I was recently at the Canton Fair in Guanzhou, China, and was amazed at how many times I was told by the people staffing the trade show booths that their company had a worldwide patent, especially in light of the fact that there is really no such thing as a worldwide patent. To obtain patent protection in a country, you need to file a patent application in that country and be granted a patent by that country's version of the US Patent & Trademark Office. For example, a US patent is valid only in the US, a French patent valid only in France, and a Thai patent valid only in Thailand.
Filing a patent application in each country in the world would be incredibly expensive and time consuming. Clients should carefully weigh the prestige and protection a patent affords them in a country against the cost of obtaining the patent, the cost of defending the patent should it be infringed or challenged in court, the amount of respect for intellectual property in that country, and the amount of business the client does in that particular country. Let's take a simple example. You invent a heavy-duty shade umbrella that covers the windows and automatically unfolds when a Range Rover is parked. This device works only on Range Rovers and you want to patent it.
Where should you patent it? Germany might be a good choice – plenty of money for people to buy Range Rovers, hot summers during which people will want to keep their cars cool, German patents are not that outrageously expensive, and the German government has a long history of honoring and respecting patents.
A patent in Chad would probably not be such a good investment, since, even though it is hot and sunny in Chad, thereby creating many people who would like to keep their cars cool, there aren't many Range Rovers in Chad and the governments of many "third world" countries, such as Chad, are understandably more concerned with civil wars, disease epidemics, feeding their people, and other concerns more immediate than intellectual property lawsuits.
Norway would also perhaps not be a good choice, as even if Norway had numerous Range Rovers and the government respected patents, it is too cold there most of the year for anyone to really need to keep the sun out of their car.
If you want to get a patent in more than one country, two popular ways of "keeping your options open" are the Paris Convention and the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Under the Paris Convention, you would have one year from the date you file your first patent application to select other countries in which you would like to file patent applications. Be aware, however, that the Paris Convention procedures are available only to signatories to this convention (with Taiwan being an important non-signatory). Under the PCT, you can "buy" yourself up to 30 months of time to file in other countries from the date you file in the first, or home country.
Again, however, not all the countries in the world are members of the PCT, with Taiwan, Malaysia, and Argentina being notable non-members. And, even using the Paris Convention or PCT, you are merely getting the opportunity to file individual patent applications in some of your countries of choice, you are not getting a worldwide patent. Once you decide to patent in a particular country, you still need to apply for the patent and prosecute the patent application.
So, next time you hear that a company has a worldwide patent on a product, you can always ask them how much it cost to obtain a patent in all 190+ countries, and was it really worth paying patent attorneys to get you individual patents for Pitcairn Island, Tuvalu, Andora, San Marino, and Vatican City?
Eric Hanscom, Esq. is an attorney with the Law Offices of Eric Hanscom. Mr. Hanscom is contributing to INPEX® Inventor's Community™ as an industry expert, but is not employed by or otherwise compensated by INPEX, InventHelp or its affiliates. His participation at INPEX does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of InventHelp or its affiliate companies.
