International Applications
People need to know that there is no such thing as a world patent. You cannot protect your patent worldwide with one application. Your application for a the USA patent will provide patent protection only within the USA. To apply for protection in Australia, you have to make separate application for that country. This will be the same with other countries overseas. The short answer therefore is that a patent will only protect your invention within the USA.
To obtain overseas patent protection, 2 options are available:
- Filing applications with intellectual property offices in overseas countries of interest; or
- Filing an International Application under the Patent Co-Operation Treaty (PCT).
Whatever option you choose, you will still end up with separate patent applications for each country you are interested in. Your patent attorney or lawyer will advise you on these matters.
How Patents Differ From Copyrights?
Patents are closely associated with things and processes used in the real world. Copyrights protect expressive art, such as novels, graphic art, music, photography, software, etc.
It is possible to get a patent on technology used in the arts, but copyrights keep one artist stealing another artist’s creative work. Copyrights and design patents actually do the same thing, that is, protect visual appearance. However, they do it in different ways and they sometimes do it for different subject matter.
The important thing is that you don’t have to choose one protection over the other. If your work qualifies for copyright as well as design patent protection, then you can claim both simultaneously.
What’s The Difference Between Patents and Trademarks?
Patents allow inventors to keep others from making commercial use of their inventions without the creator’s permission. Trademarks, however, are not concerned with how technology is used. They protect names of products and services, logos and other devices used to identify the source of the goods and services and distinguish them from their competition.
Patent and trademark laws do not overlap. When it comes to a product design, for example, a design of a piece of jewellery, it may be possible to obtain a design patent on the ornament, aspects of the device, while invoking trademark law to protect the design as a product identifier.
How to Protect Your Invention When Discussing It
If you are trying to license your invention, you run the risk that someone will “rip you off”. This means you need to protect your invention when discussing it with other parties.
Here are some ways you can do this:
- File a provisional patent application.
- Use a non-disclosure agreement before the discussions.
This agreement will generally define:
- A definition of what is and what is not confidential.
- Obligations of the receiving party.
- The time periods for which the information has to be kept confidential.