Transcript
Interviewer
So in general, what is a patent, and why are they important?
Maria Fernández-Ferreira
A patent is a way of protecting your intellectual property – it is the one which gives you stronger protection. It’s not the only form of protection that exists, but it is definitely the one that gives you the strongest form of protection because – basically – it’s a monopoly on the use of your invention.
Interviewer
What other options do I have to protect my intellectual property?
Maria Fernández-Ferreira
You can go to trademarks. You can go to copyright. You have patents. You have utility models, for example. So the type of protection will depend on the type of product you have, of course, and also on the business model you are interested in. Eventually, you might have a product which has different protections applied to it – be it, for example, a trademark or a patent, etc.
Interviewer
In principle, software programs themselves are not patentable. So why is patent law relevant to software engineers?
Maria Fernández-Ferreira
Well, first of all, the laws are different in different areas of the world. So concerning the European Patent Office – or, the European Patent Convention establishes that programs for computers as such are not patentable.
However, if you have a computer program or software which has some further technical effect, then you might get a patent granted for that computer program. So it is not an automatic exclusion. It is indeed an exclusion in certain circumstances, but it is still possible to get a patent. Of course, software can also be protected by copyright. And you have to decide when you have a software product whether it pays off to go for a patent – or is it enough for you to have a copyright?
If I’m a software engineer who thinks he has a computer program – some computer-based invention ... how would I go about obtaining a patent?
I would advise you to consult the official EPO website, www.epo.org, because they provide very good information for potential applicants. You can see, for example, how much are the costs? What are the time frames involved? What are the pitfalls that ...? You should be careful before filing because many people who are not familiar with patent law, they ... for example, they disclose part of their invention, and then they apply for a patent, and they find out that they cannot get a patent because they already have disclosed it. So there are a series of pitfalls, and they are very well described in this website. So my first recommendation is have a look – see whether you should apply for a patent or not.