What is a patent?

Invention patents protect the technical and technological aspects of a product or a process that possesses novelty, inventiveness, and industrial applicability and reproducibility. A patent is therefore an exclusive right granted to an inventor or inventors who have filed a patent application to exploit their innovation, in the specific territory where it is protected. In Italy, intellectual creative works are generally not patentable, but instead are protected by copyright. Invention patents may protect a product, a process, or the inventive use of something already known, and have a duration of twenty years. A first meeting with the you allows us to acquire the necessary technical information and fully understand both the invention and your needs, and to establish the most cost-effective and strongest protection strategy. A patent provides territory-specific protection.

Italian patents

An Italian patent provides protection throughout Italy and San Marino by virtue of the existing agreement therewith and according to some doctrines, can be recognized by the Vatican City. The duration of an Italian patent is 20 years from its filing date.

International patent applications

This is a centralized procedure that allows you to obtain provisional protection in all the countries that are members of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Within a peremptory term that varies from country to country (typically 30 or 31 months) from the first filing date – or, if claimed, the priority date -, you must decide in which of those countries you wish to protect your patent by entering the national and/or regional phases and thereby requesting that the patent be examined. Once said term has expired, all protection in those countries where you have decided not to enter the national and/or regional phases, is lost.

European patents

This is a centralized patenting system wherein a single application before the European Patent Office must be validated in every country of interest, in accordance with the European Patent Convention. Once the patent has been granted, therefore, it does not undergo further examination, although many of these countries will require a translation of the patent, be it of the entire text or just the claims, in compliance with local legislation.