Patent law

Patent law is about protecting technical inventions. It’s sometimes referred to as the ‘tank’ among intellectual property rights: it’s hard to build, its flexibility is limited, but its fire power can be tremendous.

Although simplistic, there is some truth in the tank comparison. To begin, a patent is not obtained easily. The application process can be quite complex and time-consuming. Additionally, once the patent is granted, its scope of protection is defined very precisely. Therefore, third parties cannot be prevented from using inventions that ‘just come close’ to the one patented. As a consequence, legal action can be taken only against those products or methods that fall fully within the patent’s scope. However, if that is indeed the case, a patent’s impact is potentially huge. The patent owner may oppose almost any kind of use or exploitation of the invention at hand—and this right may last up to twenty years.