Patent purity is a legal property of an object of technology, which consists in the fact that it does not violate the exclusive rights existing in a certain territory belonging to third parties, and can be freely introduced into civil circulation in this territory.
It follows that having patent purity are those objects that are not covered by patents for inventions, utility models or industrial designs and do not violate registered trademarks, trade names and indications of the origin of goods.
Patent purity research is aimed at searching, analyzing and systematizing patent and other information related to the object of research. As a rule, a study on the patent purity of an intellectual property (IP) object is carried out before the launch of a new product or technology and/or before releasing it to the market in order to reduce the risk of receiving claims from copyright holders and to eliminate losses.
When conducting research on patent purity, national, regional (in particular, Eurasian and European) patents (including patents for industrial designs), as well as applications for which the convention priority has not been exhausted, are taken into account.
It is also necessary to ensure its legal (comprehensive consideration of all legal issues), technical (correct assessment of the technical essence of the invention/utility model under the patent in comparison with the object being tested) and economic (assessment of the scope of possible claims of the patent owner in case of violation of his patent and damages subject to compensation) components.
As a rule, research of an IP object for patent purity is carried out in all countries where the production and/or sale of the product is planned. At the same time, the presence of similar technical innovations in the patent registries of all selected countries is checked, their comparative analysis is carried out, and if overlap is identified, the conditions for the validity of the patent are studied.
It is necessary to distinguish between studies of patent purity and patentability of IP objects.
Examination for patent purity Examination for novelty (patentability)
- All technical solutions are taken into account - Only this technical solution is checked
- The examination is carried out in each country - The examination is carried out without taking into account any countries
- The legal component of all countries is taken into account, - Only the legislation of the Russian Federation is taken into account
in respect of which an examination is being carried out
- The goal is to identify the features used in the object - The goal is to identify differences between the technical solution being tested and
patented invention, despite having a prototype, despite the presence of common features
differences in other characteristics
- All patents valid in a given country are taken into account - Any available sources that discredit novelty by law are taken into account
inventions
- The depth of the search for patents is determined by their validity period - The depth of the search is not related to the validity period of the patent
in this country
- The scope of rights is detected - The scope of rights is not detected
- Errors and inaccuracies can lead to significant - Errors and inaccuracies are easily eliminated at subsequent
material damage examination stages
Thus, based on the above, patent purity is a characteristic of a real object (product, technology, etc.), showing the possibility of its free use, and patentability is a property of a technical or artistic solution (development), showing the possibility of its patenting. These characteristics are different and independent of each other.
It must be remembered that patent purity studies are aimed at checking the development as a whole, as well as its individual components protected by other patents. This will help to completely eliminate overlaps and protect the customer from accusations of illegal use of the patent. Without conducting patent clearance studies, the manufacturer of this development risks incurring losses in the form of compensation and fines after introducing the product to a new market.
