2016-11-22
Inventors, organizations and companies often utilize patents as a way of protecting their innovations. A strong patent portfolio can be beneficial to the growth and success of any business. It is possible to obtain patents for tangible products, processes or improvements in a process or product. Advances in technology have led to advances in many different areas. The advent of e-commerce brought about the idea of protecting methods of doing business through the use of business method patents. Most businesses consider their ideas to be intellectual property that need to be protected by patents. Patenting a process or way of doing something gives the holder exclusive rights to the invention which can be used to generate profits. A question that often pops up is whether or not a process or a process idea is patentable.
In order to be patentable, an invention must be new, useful and non-obvious. Any new and useful improvement over any art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter can be patented. However, certain conditions determine whether a process or idea is patentable.
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Ideas with Tangible Elements
Not every idea that a business comes up with is patentable. In order to obtain a patent for an idea, the idea must be tangible or have a physical element. It is, therefore, possible to patent a manufacturing process that results in a physical product or a process that helps in operating a mechanical or electrical device. Simply having an idea for a product or process with no idea of how to use it or make it is not sufficient to obtain patent protection for it.
Business Ideas
With the rise of virtual industry, many software and internet businesses were eager to patent their processes. While it was known that a process involving a physical element could be patented, there were conflicts upon methods which had a tangible element but were mere business ideas. These processes were not necessarily attached to a physical device but were ideas to improvise experiences and enhance procedures. One of the examples includes the online process of consumer purchase. The method here needs a computer for execution but yet can be claimed as a general business method. In the past, the patent office had been reluctant to grant patents for such business methods. But with rising conflicts and invention of new business technologies, claiming a patent for such methods is now possible.
Possibilities to patent a process idea have opened up over the years. Furthermore, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office issues practice notices which give valuable insights on how business methods are examined that can help inventors seeking patents. Deciding whether an idea or process idea is patentable can be complex. A patent agent may be able to assist in clarifying whether or not your process is patentable.
