By Tavonga Chirikure, Intern.

An exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application.

What is the purpose of a patent?

According to ocpatentlawyer.com, the purpose of patenting is to encourage innovation by granting inventors a patent for their inventions. A patent is a governmental grant to inventors of a right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling or generally importing, their invention (let’s rephrase this so that it. This means that it protects the interests of any persons who may be placed in a vulnerable position because of their discovery or inventions.

There are four requirements that should be fulfilled for an invention to be patentable. The invention must be:

1. Statutory (subject matter eligible)
2. New/ Novel
3. Useful
4. Non-obvious

Types of patents

• Utility patents; Plant patents and Design patents.

Advantages of patents

• Protects the invention from other people, preventing them from copying, manufacturing, selling, or importing it without your consent.
• You are protected for a pre-determined period of time which allows you to keep competitors away.
• You can utilize the invention yourself.
• You can establish an important source of revenue for your businesses if the patent is licensed for others to use and sell.
• It is a deterrent that prevents plagiarism, infringement etc.

Disadvantages of patents

• It makes some technical information about the invention publicly available. Keeping an invention completely a secret may keep competitors at bay.
• Applying for a patent can be time consuming and lengthy (three to four years) – this exposes the product to market change and technology may overtake it, reducing its value.
• It is very pricey to apply to acquire a patent regardless of the success. The potential of the product making profit should outweigh the time, effort, and money it takes to get and maintain patent.
• Failure to pay the annual fee will result in the lapsing of the patent.
• You need to defend your patent. Taking action against an infringer is expensive. 

Patents in Zimbabwe

The Department of Deeds Companies and Intellectual Property regulates patent law in Zimbabwe. According to this Department a patent is an official document conferring sole right/ privilege or license to an inventor for a limited period of time – 20 year and this document is specifically called the Letters Patent. It is separate from the invention itself.

Management of rights comes in four forms – transfer, licensing, individual exploitation, and compulsory licenses.

What can be patented?

An idea must be useful (practically). Additionally, it must be new. This means it must have a new characteristic which is not known in the body of existing knowledge in its technical field (prior art). This same invention must show inventive steps which could not be deduced by a person with average knowledge of the technical field. The subject matter must be accepted as patentable under the national patent laws.

What cannot be patented?

Not everything can be protected by a patent. The aspects of intellectual property that cannot be protected by a patent are scientific theories, mathematical methods, plant or animal varieties, discoveries of natural substances, commercial / business methods (ways of doing business), methods for medical treatment (as opposed to medical products) frivolous applications– those against established natural laws and software.

What rights does a patent owner have?

• Decides who may or may not exploit the protected invention.
• Permits/licenses others to use the invention on mutually agreed terms.
• The inventor can sell the invention outright.

These rights expire when the invention enters the public domain that is the public can now exploit the invention without authorization.

#lockdown2021 #staysafe