Patent attorneys work more closely with inventors to protect their assets against illegal use and assist them in maintaining the monetary values of these issues. While this may sound boring compared to some specialties, these Patent attorneys can focus their efforts on patent law and have financial security

Thus, the inventor has the right to prevent third parties from producing, using or putting up a sale for their product. That is, patent registration protects the invention. Consequently, the invention itself is patented, not a trademark. It also provides the inventor/author with the necessary protection to deserve his work’s financial and personal reward.

What Can and Can Not be Patented

In general, as long as it is not legally prohibited, any object can be patented. It may be novel, something useful and appropriate to describe. Some things can not be patented, such as:

• Surgical or therapeutic techniques applied to the human or animal body;
• Plans, schemes or commercial techniques of calculation, financing, credit, lottery, speculation, and propaganda;
• Plans for medical care, insurance, a discount scheme in stores and also teaching methods, game rules, architectural plans;
• Works of art, music, books, and movies, as well as presentations of information, such as posters and labels with the owner’s portrait;
• Abstract ideas, scientific discoveries, mathematical methods or inventions that cannot be industrialized.

Types of Patents

• Invention Patent (IP)

Products or processes that meet the requirements of inventive activity, novelty, and industrial application.

• Utility Model Patent (MU)

The object of practical use, or part thereof, susceptible of industrial application, which presents a new form or arrangement, involving an inventive step resulting in a functional improvement in its use or production. Validity: fifteen years from the deposit date.

• Certificate of Addition of Invention (C)

Improvement or development introduced in the subject-matter of the invention, although without an inventive step, but still within the same concept of the invention. The certificate shall be ancillary to the patent and with the same end date of this patent.

How is the Patent Registration Process?

Obtaining a patent registration takes longer than trademark registration. The process can last up to seven years.

After this period, the invention falls into the public domain and may be manufactured or appropriated by whomever it wishes.

The documents that must be presented to make the patent application, according to INPI, are:

• Technical content: descriptive report, claim form, sequence listing (if applicable, for biotech applications), drawings (if applicable) and abstract;
• Application: Form FQ001 (Filing of the Patent Application), available on the INPI portal;
• Proof of payment of the deposit voucher guide (Union Pickup Guide – GRU).

The patent registration is essential to ensure the exclusive manufacturing and marketing of the product or process invented by a company.