Patent

Patent is a title granting juridical protection to an invention. It is issued upon request by a national or regional industrial property office, based on the fulfillement of the criteria for patentability.

This title grants its owner exclusive exploitation right during the patent's validity. Thus a juridical ground is created when the patented invention can be exploited with the patent owner's authorisation only.

Protection granted to a patent is time limited (from 15 to 20 years) beginning with the filing date of the application or the date when the patent was issued.

The protection is also limited within the boundaries of the country or of the region where administrative competences for the industrial property office apply. Patent, as a term is also used for nominating a document (publication) containing: description, designs and claims of the invention.