INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY FOR BUSINESSES: PATENT (Part I)

Please follow and like us:
Pin Share

A patent is a document, issued, upon application, by a government office which describes an invention and creates a legal situation in which the patented invention can normally only be exploited (manufactured, used, sold, imported) with the authorization of the owner of the patent. It is an intangible right arising from the creation of the human mind.

The right is obtained only after registration or grant by the appropriate government body. The law governing patents in Ghana is the Patent Act, 2003 (Act 657). The Act defines a patent as the title granted to protect an invention and it provides protection to the inventor for a limited period of 20 years.

What is a patentable invention?
Section 3 of the Act, 2003, provides for patentable inventions. An invention is patentable if it is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable. The three criteria for patentability are further explained below.

New: An invention is new if it is not anticipated by prior art. “Prior Art” consists of everything disclosed to the public, anywhere in the world by publication in tangible form, such as publications in research journals, patent applications and grants, technology journals, published university research papers and dissertations, newspaper publications etc; oral disclosure; disclosure by use or in any other way, prior to the filing or, where appropriate, the priority date, of the application claiming the invention.

Inventive Step: Under the Patent Act, an invention can be considered as involving an inventive step if, having regard to the prior art relevant to the application claiming the invention it would not be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art.

Industrial Applicability: This means that one should be able to use the invention in any kind of industry.

What kind of protection does a patent offer?
Patents confer negative rights. A Patent does not give the right to the inventor or the owner of a patented invention to make, use or sell anything. What it does is to exclude others from exploiting the patented invention without the consent of the owner of the patent. Thus, while the owner is not given a legal right to practice his invention, he is given a legal right to prevent others from commercially exploiting his invention, which is frequently referred to as the right to ‘exclude others from making, using or selling the invention’.

The Patent grant also gives the owner of the Patent the right to take action against any person exploiting the patented invention in the country without his consent. This right has been described as the patent owner’s most important right, since it permits the owner to derive the material benefits to which he is entitled as a reward for his intellectual effort and work, and compensation for the expenses which his research and experimentation leading to the invention have entailed.

What rights does a patent owner have?

A patent owner has a right to decide who may or may not – use the patented invention for the period in which the invention is protected. The patent owner may give permission to, or license, other parties to use the invention on mutually agreed terms. The owner may also sell the right to the invention to someone else, who will then become the new owner of the patent.

Once a patent expires, the protection ends, and an invention enters the public domain. This means that the owner no longer holds exclusive rights to the invention which becomes available to commercial exploitation by others.

Please follow and like us:
Pin Share