Infringement
Unauthorized
use of a patented invention.
Intellectual property rights (IPR)
IPR
allows people to assert ownership rights on the outcomes of their creativity
and innovative activity in the same way that they can own physical property.
The four main types of intellectual property rights are: patents, trademarks,
design and copyrights.
International patent application
Patent
applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) are commonly
referred to as international patent applications. However, an international
patent (PCT) application does not result in the issuance of "international
patents", i.e. at present; there is no global patent system that is
responsible for granting international patents. The decision of whether to
grant or reject a patent application filed under the PCT rests with the
national or regional (e.g. EPO) patent offices.
International Patent Classification (IPC)
The
International Patent Classification, which is commonly referred to as the IPC,
is based on an international multilateral treaty administered by WIPO. The IPC
is an internationally recognised patent classification system, which provides a
common classification for patents according to technology groups. The IPC is a
hierarchical system in which the whole area of technology is divided into a
range of sections, classes, subclasses and groups. There are eight sections
that are broken down into classes and subclasses. IPC is periodically revised
in order to improve the system and to take account of technical development.
Inventive step
An
invention is considered to include an inventive step if it is not obvious to a
skilled person in the light of the state of the art. At the EPO, the inventive
step is one of the most important criteria (along with novelty and industrial
application) that need to be fulfilled in order to obtain a patent. The USPTO employs
the concept of "non-obviousness", which is equivalent to the
inventive step criterion of the EPO in a legal context.
Inventor country
Country
of the residence of the inventor, which is frequently used to count patents in
order to measure inventive performance.
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Posted in: Glossary
