Patents protect novel or new inventions that have industrial applications by giving an absolute monopoly to the inventor of a patent.
The failure to patent your inventions could be damaging to you or to your company. If you do not register your invention, anyone can use, make or sell your invention without your permission. Anybody who tells you that you do not require patent protection does not understand the reality of market.
Here are 4 reasons why you should apply to protect your patent:
1. Monopoly of your Exclusive Rights
Patents protect novel inventions that have industrial applications by giving an absolute monopoly to the inventor. The scope of the protection is enormously broad compared to other intellectual property rights such as trademark. Although the protection term is short (20 years) the exclusive rights conferred to them rewarding inventors for their effort in coming out with a patent.
2. Higher returns on your investment
The scope is very wide and for a successfully registered patent in Malaysia, the proprietor can exploit their patent and be rewarded for their many years of research in coming out with their patent. Inventors spend considerable amount of time and money in inventing novel inventions and therefore by registering their inventions, the governing law protects the invention thus allowing inventors to commercialise their invention for high returns on their investment.
3. Image of your company
A patent is an invaluable asset of a company whereby the value cannot be determined by dollars and cents. A registered patent indirectly improves your standing in the eyes of your business partners, investors and shareholders as it demonstrates the level of expertise and specialisation of your company. This may also indirectly raise your company’s market value.
4. Money
A patent holder may choose to exploit, sell or license the rights to develop the patent and this is a good source of income for your company.
Now that you know the main reasons why you need to apply for protection for your patent, the next question is in which country you should apply for it.
If you have registered your patent in Malaysia, you should know that the patent protection is only limited to Malaysia as the registration of a patent in Malaysia only gives you the protection in Malaysia, so if you intend to use your patent in other parts of the world, you should consider protection abroad as well.
Before considering protection abroad, you consider the two questions below:
a) Do you want to use your own invention abroad; and
b) Do you want to licence your invention to others abroad.
In order to decide both the above questions, we suggest you to consider whether there is any likelihood that you would use your invention or to licence it to others abroad in the near future. If your answer is yes, then you should patent your inventions abroad also. If your answer is no, then you probably do not need to apply for protection. Note that as patent protections are territorial in nature, any other persons are legally allowed to make, sell or use your invention abroad if you have not protect your invention in that particular country in the first place.
If you are not sure, just ask for help.
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