As I patented the program (Internet service)
The program can be protected as a utility model (system) and as a way.
It is better to simultaneously prepare separate applications for the method and the utility model. When they are ready - the patent attorney will submit them simultaneously on the same day - then both of these applications will not defame the patent novelty of each other, but will provide protection from different sides.
When preparing the initial application is a way - it is the most time consuming. When the method is ready (or directly in the preparation process to save time), an application for a utility model is made on the basis of it. The drawings will be somewhat different, but most of the content for the utility model will be taken from the method. Therefore, usually patent offices make a discount on the application for a utility model. For example, the application for the method cost me 40 tr. (not counting duties), and an additional application for a utility model cost only 20 tr. It is also much smaller in volume.
After the submission of applications you can already begin to publish the program, without waiting for a positive decision - but of course, if you are absolutely sure that you are not violating anyone's rights. Although both before starting work on the application, and in the process of its preparation, an examination of the world novelty is carried out - and all known analogues are usually found. And the patent specialist decides, guided by his experience, whether there are enough differences in the protected idea with respect to existing inventions and applications. So if there are enough of them, then the decision is made to make an application. However, before the application is filed, something near-close may appear in the world, so before launching your development without getting a positive decision, you need to make sure once again that you are the first to just google without conducting additional checks on the world novelty in the patent office. In the world of software, everything quickly becomes known.
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But you can wait for a positive decision. For a utility model, a positive decision can be ready quickly enough - within 2-3 months. Provided that the application was issued qualitatively and it immediately passed in the central patent office, without causing objections of experts. An application for a method can be corrosive for years - 2 years is a common thing, long correspondence and disputes between an expert and a patent specialist are possible. But, on the other hand, a patent for a method protects development much better than a patent for a utility model.
The advantage of simultaneously filing applications for a utility model and a method is that the utility model will begin to protect the development very quickly. However, for the year during which it is necessary to make a decision on patenting in other countries, development will probably not be able to bring tangible returns and profits - and the period for patenting in other countries will be lost. Patenting in the United States costs about $ 4,000, in Europe - 4,000 euros. But the application for the method will be considered for a long time, and the patent will be issued, too, at best, in a year and a half. Accordingly, the total period increases, during which it is necessary to have time to submit applications to other countries. Thus, the development of 3-4 months after the filing of applications is already beginning to protect a patent for a utility model, so it becomes naughty to miss the deadlines for submitting an application for a utility model in a friend of the country. But there is a significant odds for promotion and getting feedback from the development, to analyze which countries are interested in the development. Then, after obtaining a patent for a method in 1-2 years, another year appears for patenting a method in other countries - in sum, this odds is in 2-3 years. Moreover, the method as a more thoroughly verified application - it is much easier to go through the procedure of checking and registering in other countries, as well as provide more complete protection.
Probably, I was not very lucky with the idea of ​​redirections, and with the fact that I constantly developed and developed it - I spent about 500 hours preparing patents for a whole year. For comparison, I spent 150–200 hours on programming)) In the case of fairly simple developments and patenting will become much easier and faster. But the scheme will remain the same as I described. The patent expert generally said that I, with my applications, broke 4 records in Yekaterinburg: the number of distinctive points of the method was about 70 or 80, I think, the amount of the application for the method of pages was 60, the preparation time was a year instead of the standard 4 months, well, that was the first Internet service, while before that they had patented only local programs and databases.
Here at registration it is worth adhering to the golden mean: the number of differences (functions) from the prototype (the closest analogue) should be enough so that the experts at the central patent office recognize the world novelty of the application, while at the same time it can take too much time to refine it - as in my case , and probably worth staying when the difference in the opinion of the patent expert will already be enough. At the same time, it is advisable to close the development from all sides, to come up with as many functions and differences as possible so that the other cannot “get around”, i.e. on the basis of this development to create their own development with these differences, sufficient for the examination recognized for the right to a new patent.
It is better to simultaneously prepare separate applications for the method and the utility model. When they are ready - the patent attorney will submit them simultaneously on the same day - then both of these applications will not defame the patent novelty of each other, but will provide protection from different sides.
When preparing the initial application is a way - it is the most time consuming. When the method is ready (or directly in the preparation process to save time), an application for a utility model is made on the basis of it. The drawings will be somewhat different, but most of the content for the utility model will be taken from the method. Therefore, usually patent offices make a discount on the application for a utility model. For example, the application for the method cost me 40 tr. (not counting duties), and an additional application for a utility model cost only 20 tr. It is also much smaller in volume.
After the submission of applications you can already begin to publish the program, without waiting for a positive decision - but of course, if you are absolutely sure that you are not violating anyone's rights. Although both before starting work on the application, and in the process of its preparation, an examination of the world novelty is carried out - and all known analogues are usually found. And the patent specialist decides, guided by his experience, whether there are enough differences in the protected idea with respect to existing inventions and applications. So if there are enough of them, then the decision is made to make an application. However, before the application is filed, something near-close may appear in the world, so before launching your development without getting a positive decision, you need to make sure once again that you are the first to just google without conducting additional checks on the world novelty in the patent office. In the world of software, everything quickly becomes known.
')
But you can wait for a positive decision. For a utility model, a positive decision can be ready quickly enough - within 2-3 months. Provided that the application was issued qualitatively and it immediately passed in the central patent office, without causing objections of experts. An application for a method can be corrosive for years - 2 years is a common thing, long correspondence and disputes between an expert and a patent specialist are possible. But, on the other hand, a patent for a method protects development much better than a patent for a utility model.
The advantage of simultaneously filing applications for a utility model and a method is that the utility model will begin to protect the development very quickly. However, for the year during which it is necessary to make a decision on patenting in other countries, development will probably not be able to bring tangible returns and profits - and the period for patenting in other countries will be lost. Patenting in the United States costs about $ 4,000, in Europe - 4,000 euros. But the application for the method will be considered for a long time, and the patent will be issued, too, at best, in a year and a half. Accordingly, the total period increases, during which it is necessary to have time to submit applications to other countries. Thus, the development of 3-4 months after the filing of applications is already beginning to protect a patent for a utility model, so it becomes naughty to miss the deadlines for submitting an application for a utility model in a friend of the country. But there is a significant odds for promotion and getting feedback from the development, to analyze which countries are interested in the development. Then, after obtaining a patent for a method in 1-2 years, another year appears for patenting a method in other countries - in sum, this odds is in 2-3 years. Moreover, the method as a more thoroughly verified application - it is much easier to go through the procedure of checking and registering in other countries, as well as provide more complete protection.
Probably, I was not very lucky with the idea of ​​redirections, and with the fact that I constantly developed and developed it - I spent about 500 hours preparing patents for a whole year. For comparison, I spent 150–200 hours on programming)) In the case of fairly simple developments and patenting will become much easier and faster. But the scheme will remain the same as I described. The patent expert generally said that I, with my applications, broke 4 records in Yekaterinburg: the number of distinctive points of the method was about 70 or 80, I think, the amount of the application for the method of pages was 60, the preparation time was a year instead of the standard 4 months, well, that was the first Internet service, while before that they had patented only local programs and databases.
Here at registration it is worth adhering to the golden mean: the number of differences (functions) from the prototype (the closest analogue) should be enough so that the experts at the central patent office recognize the world novelty of the application, while at the same time it can take too much time to refine it - as in my case , and probably worth staying when the difference in the opinion of the patent expert will already be enough. At the same time, it is advisable to close the development from all sides, to come up with as many functions and differences as possible so that the other cannot “get around”, i.e. on the basis of this development to create their own development with these differences, sufficient for the examination recognized for the right to a new patent.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/136934/
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