Innovative start-ups can still bank on a robust patent system
EVERY inventor or innovative start-up company wants to ensure that they get to a position where they can reap the financial rewards due to them for all the hard work, creativity and effort they have put into their offering.
The patent system was designed to help them do exactly that, by granting them monopoly rights to their invention for up to 20 years from the initial filing date. However, as Ian Murgitroyd, Chairman and founder of European patent and trade mark attorneys, Murgitroyd, explains, the quid-pro-quo for this is the full disclosure of the invention in the patent application, and the firm additionally has to pay a regular annuity to keep the patent in force.
Those two things, the obligation to make a full disclosure, and the ongoing fee, are something that the applicant simply has to take on the chin if they want to enjoy the monopoly.
On top of this, until the European Unitary Patent comes into force, whenever that may be, patent applications through the European Patent Office have to be validated on a country by country basis, which adds to the cost if you want protection in multiple countries. (By way of contrast, an EU trade mark registration provides protection across the whole of the EU, including, at present, in the UK).
However, there is a third element that also needs to be considered. Small companies, as a rule, lack the deep pockets required to go to court to defend their patent if it is infringed on by a larger company. That sounds like a large stumbling block, but Murgitroyd says that in his 40 years of experience advising all kinds of clients, both large and small, he has seen very few instances where large companies simply tried to steam-roller over small companies who held patents.
“Larger companies will almost always be prepared to be reasonable when it is pointed out to them that they are infringing a patent. Time after time we see them being prepared to either continue producing the infringing product under license, so the inventor is properly rewarded, or they will negotiate to buy the patent, or even the company, outright. The courts are a last resort and patent protection is very powerful,” he notes.
He mentions that Murgitroyd is expert in providing advice and resources to all sizes of companies, including start-ups, SMES and larger companies, which he believes makes the firm an ideal partner to advise on any IP issue.
The businessman points start-ups to the Innovator Launchpad competition, founded by Murgitroyd in 2017, which gives an opportunity to seek advice and compete for funding: “We’ll be launching the competition again on 10th October this year, and we hope to assist a number of UK start-ups again in taking the next step on their growth journeys”.
He also highlights an upcoming webinar on inventor payment that his team will be hosting on September 6th: “The webinar will give expert advice on the rights of inventors and employers, and we’ll have a live Q&A session where people can put their questions to our panel.
“We hope as many businesses as possible can dial in.”
For further information . . .