Is an exclusive right granted for invention a product or process that provides a new way of doing something?

You can protect your invention with a patent. A patent can be used to prohibit others from copying, selling or importing your invention.

What is a patent?

A patent is the exclusive intellectual property right to an invention of a technical product or process.

Protection of an invention

Patent rights protect inventions. If you have a patent, others are in principle not permitted to make, use, resell, rent out, supply, import or stock your invention, or offer it to someone else.

The Netherlands Patent Office receives 2,500 to 3,000 applications a year. Examples of patented inventions include the multifunctional pushchair that can be adjusted to diverse angles, the storm-proof umbrella Senz, the Senseo coffeemaker, the clap skate, and Dutch crispbakes (beschuit) with indentations.

Patent applications: the three criteria

Patent applications must satisfy the following three criteria:

• Novelty

  This means that your invention must not have been made public – not even by yourself – before the date of the application.

• Inventive step

  This means that your product or process must be an inventive solution. It cannot be a solution that would be obvious to a manufacturer. Take the example of a different attachment method. Instead of welding the tubes of a swing together, they might be screwed together. This may well be a new method of making swings. But for someone involved in making them, it is too obvious a solution to be called an inventive step.

• Industrial applicability

  This criterion implies that it must be possible to actually manufacture the new invention. In other words, you can apply for a patent on a new kind of playing card that is easier to hold than existing cards. But you can’t obtain a patent for an idea for a new card game.

These rules are laid down in the Patents Act 1995.

Patents Database

If the Netherlands Patent Office grants the patent, the technology will be made public in the patent databases and registers. Companies can consult these to see if the technology they wish to develop has already been patented. They can also see which of their competitors are already doing research and development work on a particular technology.

Patent outside the Netherlands

A patent is a national right. You may also decide to apply for a European patent or for one that applies worldwide.

Applying for patent protection in the EU with a single application

From 2017 onwards, a single patent will apply to the Netherlands and throughout the EU. After this ‘unitary patent’ enters into force, separate patents will only be required for Spain and Croatia.

Getting a patent revoked

Someone who considers that your invention does not meet the criteria for a patent can try to have your patent revoked. These proceedings are heard by the district court in The Hague. This court must decide whether your patent does in fact fulfil the criteria, and whether it should be revoked or upheld.

Patent licence for the use of an invention

You can give others permission to make, sell or administer your patented product or process. Patent holders can grant such permission by issuing a patent licence.

 How to Apply 

What is a Patent?

A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention. This invention can be a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something or offer a new technical solution to a problem. In short, a patent provides protection for the invention to the owner. A patent can also be described as a document which gives you the right to stop other people from making, copying, using or selling your invention.

Patents provide protection of an invention of any new and useful art, process, machine, manufactured or composition of matter; or any new and useful improvement thereof; which can be used or applied in trade or industry; and which is not known or used by others, and not patented or described in any printed publication in Namibia or any other country.

Examples of products that have been patented are:  flat iron, ball point pens and seat belts.

Laws on Patents

In Namibia patent registrations are protected under the Industrial Property Act 1 of 2012, which has been enacted on 1 August 2018.

Institutions responsible for granting patents:

• National: the Business & Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA)
• Regional: the Harare Protocol. This Protocol enables an applicant to file one application and request for protection in specific ARIPO member states (those that are signatories to the Protocol) where the applicant requires protection.  A patent granted to the applicant by ARIPO, has the same effect as one granted under the Patents Law of Namibia, except where the Registrar has notified the ARIPO office that the patent shall not be effective in Namibia.
• International: the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The PCT makes it possible for an applicant to seek patent protection for an invention in a number of countries (that are PCT members) by filing a single patent application instead of filing several separate national patent applications.  The granting of patents remains within the powers of the national IP office.

Duration of Protection a Patent

A patent provides protection to an inventor for a new product or process for a duration of 20 years  in return for the disclosure of the invention. It is renewed annually from the first anniversary of filing until the 20th anniversary of filing. It is important to pay an annual renewal fee to keep it in force.  The patent expires after 20 years.

Why is it Important to Register a Patent?

It is important that you apply for a patent before you make your invention available to the public, in order to protect its novelty.

Why are Patents Necessary?

Patents provide incentives to individuals by recognising their creativity and offering the possibility of material reward for their marketable inventions. These incentives encourage innovation, which in turn enhances the quality of human life.

What Kinds of Protection do Patents Offer?

Patent protection ensures that an invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed or sold without the patent owner’s consent. Patent rights are usually enforced in courts who, in most systems, hold the authority to prohibit patent infringement. Conversely, a court can also declare a patent invalid upon a successful challenge by a third party.

When Should You Apply for a Patent?

You can apply for a patent if you have created an invention.  An invention is something that is unique, not obvious, and capable of being manufactured by an industrial process.  If you want to protect your invention from being copied, you have to apply for protection of your patent.

Who Can Apply for a Patent?

The person who created the invention (the inventor) can apply for a patent.  The inventor can also nominate a person or a company to apply for the patent protection.  You cannot patent an idea if you have seen it somewhere else.  It must be original and unique.

Advantages of Obtaining a Patent

• Patents provide exclusive rights to the owner of the invention to exploit it commercially.
• Patents provide a means for technological exchange as each patent document describes a new aspect of the technology in clear and specific terms. Patent systems are host to more than 70% of scientific literature.
• Patent documents are vital resources for researchers, business people, inventors, academics and anyone who wants to keep up with new developments in their field.

Patentable Inventions

For inventions to be patentable it must meet the following important criteria: novelty, an inventive step, be practically viable and conform to natural and statutory laws.

• To be granted a patent the invention must be new. It should not have been produced, described or explained to the public.
• It must be innovative (unique).
• It must not be obvious or self-evident.
• It must be applicable to industrial use (be able to be reproduced).
• It must conform to natural and statutory laws.

Excluded from patentability are the following:

• Scientific theories, mathematical methods and discoveries.
• Literally, dramatic, musical, or artistic works; or other aesthetic creations.
• Schemes, rules of performing a mental act, computer programs, and the presentation of information.
• Plant varieties or animal hybrids
• Alleged inventions where there is no sufficient information.
• Perpetual mobile machines which contradict known laws of thermo dynamics.

What Rights do Patent Owners have?

A patent owner has the right to decide who may – or may not – use the patented invention for the period during which it is protected. Patent owners may give permissions to, or license other parties to use their inventions on mutually agreed terms. Owners may also sell their invention rights to someone else, who then becomes the new owner of the patent. Once a patent expires, protection ends and the invention enters the public domain. The owner no longer holds exclusive rights to the invention, and it becomes available for commercial exploitation by others.

Patent application for an invention must be made in writing, citing the complete specifications. This document makes up the most important part of the application, and should contain the full disclosure of the invention and the claims defining the subject matter for which protection is being claimed/sought.

Is an exclusive right granted for a product or process that provides a new way of doing something or offers a new technical solution to a problem?

Is an exclusive right granted for a product process or an improvement of a product or process which is new inventive and useful?

What is exclusive right invention?

What is the right of an inventor to exclusive use of his invention?