A GOOD IDEA IS NEVER ENOUGH
Our consultancy services turn innovation into profit.
Innovating means investing resources in research and development or using experience to find original solutions to technical problems. The results of innovation, whether they are new products or production procedures, creation of original shapes or distinctive marks, form part of the intangible assets of a firm which allow it to be more competitive on the market.
However, these assets only return a profit after the industrial property rights are obtained and provided the contents are sufficiently protected.
What is Industrial Property?
It is the group of property rights on intangible assets belonging to a person or a firm. In Italy, these rights are governed by the Industrial Property Code; internationally, they are protected by a complex system of conventions and legal procedures.
The rights are acquired exclusively through patenting or registration, procedures which lead to IP (Industrial Property) rights.
Our professionals work alongside the inventor to assist in maximising the profit to be gained from the invention, which involves checking novelty, filing the application and then protecting the consequent financial benefits.
Our services extend throughout the entire process which produces and protects the monopoly granted by patents, trademarks, models and copyright. The various phases of this process are summarised below:
Priority search. The essential requirement for obtaining Industrial Property rights is absolute novelty of whatever is being patented or registered. Before starting the procedures for granting the rights, it is therefore advisable to perform preliminary inquiries, on international databases, to check that the subject of the application is not already covered by rights acquired by others.
This not only avoids penalising marketing of a company’s products and/or services, it also avoids major legal actions being brought by the legitimate holders. Priority searches also offer the advantage of revealing competitors’ strategies, allowing the innovators to change, or even improve, their idea.
Filing. This is the formal act of applying for an Industrial Property right, which passes through patenting and registration procedures at the competent authorities: UIBM, UAMI, EPO, WIPO, USPTO, etc. Applications must be properly formulated, failing which they will be inadmissible, with the necessary technical and legal know-how in the area of reference for preparation and filing of valid documents.
Grant. The grant of a patent, like registration of a trademark or a model, allows a firm to distinguish itself from the competitors and is therefore a key means of gaining a market position. Holding a monopoly has two benefits: it prevents others from using the invention and allows a non-negotiable sale price to be set.
There is more. Patents, trademarks, models and copyright, once filed, become marketable assets in themselves, through licensing, assignment, use and reproduction agreements. A precise estimate of your IP rights and efficient management of the contractual procedures are therefore fundamental steps for financial exploitation of those rights.
Survey Protection of intangible assets does not end with certification of exclusive rights. After filing and payment of the relative granting fee, it is necessary to monitor the expiry dates for maintaining or renewing patent rights and preparing any requests for territorial extension.
It is also necessary to monitor the markets and act promptly to protect the rights in the case of infringement or slavish imitation.
Technical and legal assistance. Our firm constantly guides and assists its clients in all phases of the complex management of IP rights, in total compliance with the professional secrecy requirements placed on us. We can create different potential solutions based on the requirements and objectives of each client and identify any critical aspects linked with them, in order to eliminate them. We constantly keep abreast of new legislation and legal practices on intellectual property in order to act promptly when patent rights require amendments to remain valid.
Thanks to an international network of specialists who operate with us, we can guarantee full coverage of Industrial Property protection services worldwide.