The invention

The invention consists in a product or in a process that entails for the user, compared to the state of the art, a grater comfort of use, a reduction of costs or energy used for reaching the same result, or any other technical advantage inherent in the conduct of one or more operations involving the use of such product or the application of that process.

The patent is the legal title which serves to protect the inventions.

It is crucial to achieve the patent in a product or a process which is believed to particularly innovative and that it is intended to market, in order to achieve the benefits arising from exclusive on the sale of that product and process.

The product covered by the patent may consist in a machine, a tool, a device or in a combination of them.

The process covered by the patent may consist of a set of operations logically connected to achieve a technical result, as a techinque for the production of goods or for the realization of services.

The utility model is a product invention the originality requirements of which, for the purposes of a valid patenting, are less stringent than those of the patents for invention. 

The product patent for industrial invention is a legal title that gives the owner the exclusive right to produce, use, put on the market or import the product in question, to the extent described in the patent claims.

The process patent for industrial invention is a legal title that gives the owner the exclusive right to apply the process in question and to produce, use, put on the market or import the product directly obtained by the process in question, to the extent of which is described in the patent claims.  

The patent for utility model is a legal title that gives the owner the exclusive right to produce, use, put on the market or import the product in question, to the extent of which is described in the patent claims.

Once the patent application is granted and it becomes a patent, the latter products its effects in the geographical area of competence of the Office which has provided for the granting of such an application, starting by a certain point in time given by the applicable law. This time, in Italy, corresponds to that in which the application was officially published or that in which it is officially noticed to a specific party, if the notification is prior to the official pubblication.

In many countries of world patent for invention may remain valid, subject to payment of manteinance fees, up to twenty years from the filing of the patent application, such as in Italy, in the main European countries, Usa, Japan and China.

The duration of the patent for utility model varies greatly depending on the country. In Italy, Germany, Spain, Japan, and China the maximum duration, upon payment of the corresponding fees, is 10 years from the date of filing of the application.

For the purpose of the validity of the patent, the invention protectd by it must be new and sufficiently inventive with respect to all that has been publicly released before the date of filing of the patent application, in the sense that the invention must be provided with sufficient inventive step compared to the state of the tecnique, which means that its obtaining must not be obvious or elementary for an ideal model of expert who is aware of all what has been derestricted prior to the filing of the patent application.

The main differences between the requirements applied by the various countries relate mostly to knowledge that are attributed to such a model of expert, and thereforer to what is to be considered as publicly distributed and is thus the basis on which to evaluate the novelty and inventiveness requirements.

In addition, the invention must be manufacturable or usable in at least one industry of any kind, including that agricultural, and must not be contrary to public order or morality, even if prohibited by a provision of law. 

Generally, the requirements for the validity of the patent for utility model differ from those of  a patent because of a smaller level of originality required, as the product covered by the patent for utility model is designed to improve an existing product adn/or to endow it with greater ease of use or application, possibly by means of a transfer of technology from one technical field to another.