If you miss a patent annuity deadline, it can have significant consequences for your intellectual property rights. Patent annuities are periodic maintenance fees that must be paid to keep a patent in force. Failure to pay these fees on time can result in the abandonment of your patent, which means that your exclusive rights to the invention will be lost. However, in many countries, there are still some alternative ways to keep your patent in force.

IP lawyers or attorneys, also known as patent and trademark or intellectual property lawyers or attorneys, play a vital role in protecting and safeguarding intellectual property rights. These legal professionals possess specialized knowledge and expertise in the complex field of intellectual property law.

The purpose of patented solutions and pending patents is to enter the realm of the economy – i.e. to be applied in the market in practice. We have collected the degrees of patent rights transfers.

In most countries, the trademark holder has 5 years to commence the genuine use of the mark from the date of registration. What does it mean for your trademark registration strategy?

As well as individual marks, there are two other kinds of trade marks that can be registered – certification marks and collective marks. Collective marks are trade marks distinguishing the goods or services of members of a civil society organisation from the goods or services of others according to the quality, origin or other characteristics of goods or services bearing the collective mark.

The Unitary Patent Court is planned to open on the 1st of April, 2023. The court will have jurisdiction over disputes concerning European patents with a unitary effect as well as validated European patents. With that possibility of opting-out, the owners of validated European patents can remain under the jurisdictions of the same national courts instead of the newly operational unitary one.

Trade mark proprietors are usually not exactly patient when it comes to unauthorised or unlawful use of their trade mark, so you would better refrain from such attempts. Trade mark parodies, however, are usually exempt from the above rule.

In order to be eligible for patenting, the invention must be new and no other person may have a prior patent application for it. Patents in most countries are granted for inventions that are new, involve an inventive step and are susceptible of industrial application.