http://www.businessowner.co.za/Article.aspx?Page=23&type=19&Item=3331
原文
Lapsed patents could cost you your rights, says inventor
By: Daniel Bugan
Posted: Monday, 09 July 2007| © BusinessOwner 1997-2005
GAUTENG inventor Cheslyn Swartz says inventors who had their designs patented should guard against it expiring as they could lose it to fraudsters just waiting to snap up lapsed patents for themselves.
A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides a new way of doing things or offers a new technical solution to a problem.
The patent registration process at the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro), requires inventors to pay an annual renewal fee on their design in the month the design was registered.
Swartz, who designed a washing machine that cleans sports shoes, says he almost fell victim to these fraudsters when he couldn\'t afford to pay his renewal fees.
He says they hang around Cipro\'s offices all day waiting for patents to expire. They then snap it up, re-patent it in their names and sell or auction it off to bigger companies.
Luckily for him, says Swartz, someone at Cipro tipped him off to the queries around the status of his patent.
He says he was able to come up with the outstanding renewal fees two days before his patent expired.
But according to Elena Zdravkova, acting registrar of Patents, Design and Copyright at the Pretoria Cipro office, there are no “fraudsters” at their office waiting to pounce on expired patents.
Besides, says Zdravkova, when a patent expires and is not renewed, it is free to be used by anyone. You are not even required to pay the owner or inventor for the use of the invention.
She says by granting the inventors a monopoly on their inventions, they are given the opportunity to recover the money spent on researching and developing inventions and to enjoy the benefits for a limited period of time (patent rights are generally granted for 20 years). But when a patent expires, it becomes public domain, she says.
However, says Zdravkova: “If a patent lapses through non-payment of the annual fees, there is a certain grace period given to the patentee to restore the patent upon payment of a restoration fee. The inventor also has to file an affidavit stating that the patent did not lapse due to his or her negligence.”
Zdravkova says after a patent is restored the patentee gets back the rights, but anyone who started using the patent while it had lapsed, also has the right to continue using it on the same scale.
对发明人而言,有效期已满的专利失去你应有的权利
拥有发明专利的设计者们应防止其拥有专利届满,因为一些骗子正等着你去争取失效的专利.
一项专利的专有权被授予一项发明,这是一个产品或一个过程,这个发明提供了解决问题的一种新的做事方法或新的技术.
专利注册程序,是在知识产权登记处,发明都为其发明设计需要每年缴付续期费.
发明一部可以清洗运动鞋洗衣机的设计者说,当他付不起续期费时,他成了那些骗子的牺牲品.
他说那些骗子整天在办公室门口等着专利的到期,然后以他们自己的名字为到期的专利重新注册,并把专利出售或拍卖给较大的公司.
但幸运的是,有人在国际专利研究处告诫过他,去查询自己专利的状态.
他在他专利到期的前两天续了费.
但在他们那专利代理没有骗子,在办公室门口等着专利的过期.
当一个专利到期或没有续费,它将对所有人都是免费的,不需要付费给专利的拥有者或发明人任何使用费.
通过授予发明人有关其发明的垄断地位,有机会使发明人要回在研发价段花费的钱,并使其享受在一定期限内使用人对其付费,不过当专利到期后,则专利就进入了公共领域.
不过因不缴费而失效,会有一定的宽展期,发明人可以提供证据证明其是由于疏忽等原因而造成的,可以给专利权人挽回专利提供机会.
通过行使专利回归的权利,给一定的宽展期给专利权人,使专利回到专利权人手中,但任何人在专利失效后使用的,仍有权在一定范围内继续使用. |
