Advocate 2

Your company has developed a really nifty new product. Should you file for a patent, and should you trademark the product’s name? Like so many other things in life, business, marriage and sports, it depends.

Patent a New Product? First of all, you cannot actually “patent” a product or service. You can only patent the innovation that went into creating that product or service. Applying for and receiving a patent has several benefits. 1. Protection and Exclusivity: First and foremost, getting a patent for your invention prevents competitors from using it to create identical or similar products. For example, when Post-it® notes came out, 3M had patented the technology behind them, and that gave 3M a valuable monopoly for many years. Understand, however, that the US Patent Office issues patents; they do not enforce them. So if a company infringes on your patent, you will have to defend your patent through civil litigation. 2. Additional Revenue: You can license your patent to other businesses. While it probably does not make sense to license your patent to a direct competitor, you could license it to companies in other industries and create a nice revenue stream. If the product that uses the invention is not producing the desired sales or profits for your business, you could then license the patent – or even sell the patent – to generate revenue from it. 3. Better Safe than Sorry: If you do NOT apply for a patent, and two or three years later you discover that a company is using your innovation to produce a product or service, you may regret not patenting the technology when you had the opportunity to do so.