Patents

A patent is a legal title, granted by the State, which confers on its proprietor a monopoly of limited duration, of a maximum of 20 years. It consists in the exclusive right to realize, to have realized by others, to use, and to offer for sale the invention claimed in the patent itself. The prerequisites for an invention to be protected by the exclusive rights conferred by the patent are: the novelty (in the sense that the invention must not already be present in the state of the art), the inventive step (in the sense that it must be the result of an inventive effort and not of the mere application of obvious measures to the normal routine of the skilled person in the art), the industriality (in the sense that it must be suitable to be produced in an industrial form and in a repetitive way), and the lawfulness (in the sense that the description of the invention must not offend consolidated moral principles, and be in violation of special norms specifically concerning the biology and the life of the human race).

By means of a patent it is possible to protect an invention: a new product or a process that solves a technical problem in an original way by giving the right to forbid competitors to implement the invention in the countries where the patent has been granted or recognized. This exclusive rights conferred by the patent are limited to the territory of the granting State; the patent must therefore be applied for in each of the States in which protection is sought.

The consultancy provided by our office ranges from the evaluation of the patentability of any innovation or new technical solution, to the drafting of patent applications for industrial inventions and utility models, to the assistance in the practices for the patent extension abroad up to the granting, to assistance in the administrative prosecution of both active and passive oppositions, as well as in the drafting of FTO (Freedom To Operate) opinions as well as in the analysis of preliminary strategies before patentability and in maintaining the post-registration title.

Also in relation to patents, our office performs accurate translations from external applications or non-European patents for filing or validation in Italy