patents

woman

Can someone tell me what is the story with patents in relation to different countries? I woke up in the middle of last night with a brilliant idea and i went straight onto the internet to find whether it's already patented. I found a few similar items and one nearly exactly the same as what i had in mind, all of these were patented in different countries outside Ireland. My question is can i patent my idea in Ireland if something similar is already patented in Europe? And WHY don't you see any of these product on the shelves when there are all these patents for them? I strongly believe there is a market for this product, it is something that would make my (and other mum's) life so much easier!

GerardKeating

woman wrote: »

Can someone tell me what is the story with patents in relation to different countries? I woke up in the middle of last night with a brilliant idea and i went straight onto the internet to find whether it's already patented. I found a few similar items and one nearly exactly the same as what i had in mind, all of these were patented in different countries outside Ireland. My question is can i patent my idea in Ireland if something similar is already patented in Europe? And WHY don't you see any of these product on the shelves when there are all these patents for them? I strongly believe there is a market for this product, it is something that would make my (and other mum's) life so much easier!

If you patented "your idea" in Ireland, it would NOT protect you against these "nearly exactly the same" ones coming into Ireland and competing against you, in fact they (or even I) could even challenge your patent and win with a claim of "prior art"..

woman

I know it wouldn't protect me from them if they decided to import to Ireland, but so far no such thing exists on Irish market. When you're saying they can challenge my patent and win with a claim of "prior art"... based on what could they do this? From what i read on the irish patents office website ther is no such thing as a worldwide patent, you have to file an application in every single country you want to have it patented. So if they only filed an application in Germany, it shouldn't give them any right to challenge me if i file an application in Ireland...

And what if you want to manufacture a common thing, let's say a chair, surely there are thousands of people making chairs in Ireland and they don't need a permission from the person who firstly patented chairs??

GerardKeating

woman wrote: »

I know it wouldn't protect me from them if they decided to import to Ireland, but so far no such thing exists on Irish market. When you're saying they can challenge my patent and win with a claim of "prior art"... based on what could they do this? From what i read on the irish patents office website ther is no such thing as a worldwide patent, you have to file an application in every single country you want to have it patented. So if they only filed an application in Germany, it shouldn't give them any right to challenge me if i file an application in Ireland...

And what if you want to manufacture a common thing, let's say a chair, surely there are thousands of people making chairs in Ireland and they don't need a permission from the person who firstly patented chairs??

A patent assumes the idea is now/novel/original. If the invention exists elsewhere in the world, they is is none of these things.

Also they have 21 months after they filed in Germany to file in Ireland/

woman

I read the protection period is 12 months, not 21. Also if what you're saying is true it couldn't have been patented in France and UK by someone else after it was patented in Germany (I checked the European Patent Office)

GerardKeating

woman wrote: »

I read the protection period is 12 months, not 21. Also if what you're saying is true it couldn't have been patented in France and UK by someone else after it was patented in Germany (I checked the European Patent Office)

On the Irish Patent Office site it states "An applicant who has also applied for a patent for the same invention to the United Kingdom, German or European Patent Offices, or who has applied under the Patent Co-operation Treaty, can submit a statement to that effect; the statement must be submitted within the twenty-one months of the application's filing date or the priority date, claimed."

515

If the idea is patented somewhere else you cannot get a patent for it... a patent is essentially granted in exchange for you making a secret public, if the idea is out there it's not a secret so you can't get a patent.

If the idea is not patented in Ireland, and the time period they are allowed for claiming priority has passed, then you would be free to make, sell and use the idea here... but so would anyone else who wanted to.

kenbrady

woman wrote: »

Can someone tell me what is the story with patents in relation to different countries? I woke up in the middle of last night with a brilliant idea and i went straight onto the internet to find whether it's already patented. I found a few similar items and one nearly exactly the same as what i had in mind, all of these were patented in different countries outside Ireland. My question is can i patent my idea in Ireland if something similar is already patented in Europe? And WHY don't you see any of these product on the shelves when there are all these patents for them? I strongly believe there is a market for this product, it is something that would make my (and other mum's) life so much easier!

You cannot patent something that has been already patented, doesn't matter what country it is patented in.

woman

515, so you're saying that i don't need to get the patent in Ireland at all, i can just start making it? That would be great, i'm really not worried about who else is going to make it, i'm not planning a multi million business What i don't understand though is why did those people in UK and France get that idea patented (in 2004 & 2006) when it was already patented in Germany in 1947...why didn't they just go ahead and start making it?

random.stranger

If it was patented in 1947, I would expect that the patent has now expired & anybody is free to make the product.

Unless the people in the UK & France have added some other novel step to the product their patents are worthless.

Sonnenblumen

woman wrote: »

515, so you're saying that i don't need to get the patent in Ireland at all, i can just start making it? That would be great, i'm really not worried about who else is going to make it, i'm not planning a multi million business What i don't understand though is why did those people in UK and France get that idea patented (in 2004 & 2006) when it was already patented in Germany in 1947...why didn't they just go ahead and start making it?

This doesn't make sense! Patents are only approved when genuine innovative/new thinking can be demonstrated. Apart from patents, you cannot simply copy another manufacturers product (whether patents are involved or not)!!

515

A granted patent might not actually stand up... maybe the initial examiner hadn't found the previous patent... if this came to light the grant would be revoked.

Before you go making it I would recommend talking to a patent agent and asking their advice. They may need to do a patent search to make sure there are no patents covering Ireland. It's possible that one has been applied for, but not yet published or granted... you don't want to make it and then find a patent is in place, as you would have to pay significant damages.

woman

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

Apart from patents, you cannot simply copy another manufacturers product (whether patents are involved or not)!!

I am not going to copy another product, I am going to make it a unique design. It is an item of everyday use, just with a small improvement. That's like saying "Do you want to start making pillowcases? Well you can't because there is already someone there making them"

GerardKeating

woman wrote: »

I am not going to copy another product, I am going to make it a unique design. It is an item of everyday use, just with a small improvement. That's like saying "Do you want to start making pillowcases? Well you can't because there is already someone there making them"

Not really the same, you do not need to patent a pillowcase before you make it.

If your "improvement" has not been patented anywhere, they you should be able to patent it, but you seemed to indicate that this "improvement" was already on the market in other countries...

pwd

the cost of patenting something in every EU state is €78k