The granting of patents is an extremely important mechanism for technological development, for innovation in all fields of knowledge – and perhaps we are even more aware of this importance when we think about medicines, for example.
The truth is that the system, which grants a temporary privilege for the inventor and/or holder to exclusively explore the invention. It is an award for contributing to the development of products and processes that will help everyone, worldwide.
In other words, society gains a lot from this investment in innovation, and the inventor/holder of the invention will be able, with the patent, to explore exclusively for 20 years !! The need to protect an invention is increasingly important for companies of all sizes, especially in a globalized and increasingly competitive market. Among the various reasons for this, we will list in this post the top 3.
Competitive advantage and exclusive economic exploitation
If you have invented something and want to be the only one and explore that product or process – or receive it so that others have access to your invention – the best way is to protect yourself by obtaining a patent, be it an invention or a utility model.
It is in this way that you will have at your disposal more effective measures to prevent copying and any unfair practices that you identify in the market, either from your competitors or even from a company that only does the marketing of products.
It is difficult to keep an industrial secret efficiently
It is important to remember that in order to protect this invention as an industrial secret, which also has protection under the LPI, you will have to take several measures so that it can be considered a true secret (restriction of access to information in your company, compartmentalization information, confidentiality and confidentiality contracts, etc.).
The consideration of these measures involves a higher cost than the patent. Thus, unless it is the case, the patent proves to be the most capable instrument to meet the need to protect its invention.
The sophistication of reverse engineering
The third and final reason that we bring here is that the reverse engineering techniques are sophisticated enough to, many times and in certain fields, manage to break the secret. In this way, even if it is only you who have the knowledge of how to do it, nothing prevents someone from being able to reproduce your product, the process of which was secret, without violating it.
But if you have obtained the right to exclusive exploitation, through the ownership of a patent, reverse engineering will not be a problem: no one will be able to reproduce your invention, without your express authorization, preferably with due remuneration. And see that, even if it is not a faithful copy of your invention, if you use means equivalent to the object of the patent, the law still guarantees your right to prevent you from exploiting it – and that is still a crime!
Finally, it is always worth remembering that, as a result of the above advantages, this protection of the invention is also a tool for you to recover investments in research and development. Therefore, it is possible to affirm that, in a macroeconomic view, the countries that most protect their intellectual production are the ones that most grow and develop.