.jpg?width=180&height=145&name=What-is-a-patent-(meaning).jpg)
A patent is legal proof that you own the rights to an invention. This exclusive right protects inventors and drives innovation. Patents are one reason we keep getting smarter. Before I joined this profession, I had a lot of questions about patents. You can read about them in this blog.
My first encounter with patents
During my first year at university, I met an examiner from the European Patent Office (EPO), the body that assesses European patent applications. He talked about his job with such passion that I started thinking about working for the EPO.
It was my first encounter with the patent profession, but not my last. A few years later, during my Master’s, I came across a vacancy at the EPO. It made me think about two questions: what do I look for in a job, and what is patenting actually about? Why does it exist? Here’s what I concluded.
Passion for technology
On the first question: I want the same from my job as from my studies. I want to satisfy my curiosity. I want to be challenged to think about technology: innovation, science and how it’s applied.
That’s what my job is all about. Working with inventors to protect their work and find the best uses for their inventions makes a patent attorney firm the ideal place for me.
A patent right is temporary
A patent is an exclusive right, granted by the government, to exploit an invention. A patent holder can stop others from using, copying or selling the invention. They can also charge a licence fee for its use.
This right is temporary, lasting up to twenty years. It can end sooner if the holder stops paying the annual renewal fees.
What does a patent look like?
A patent is an official document proving the exclusive right to an invention. The right granted to Simon Stevin in 1584 for his water pump is one of the oldest known Dutch patents.
Patents weren’t set out in law until the early nineteenth century, and the first modern Patents Act dates from 1910. It was replaced in 1995, and significantly amended in 2008. A new Patents Act, introducing full examination of Dutch patents, is expected in 2028.
Patents drive progress
In essence, a patent is a deal between an inventor and society. The patent system encourages people to make their inventions public, which drives technological progress.
Or, as then Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in 2014 when construction began on the EPO’s new building in Rijswijk: “Patents are the oil in the machine room of economic innovation.”
An exclusive right as a reward for innovation
As a reward, inventors and innovative companies get an exclusive right to their innovation for up to twenty years. Innovation pays off for them. In return, their invention is made public.
Sharing this knowledge makes society smarter, and speeds up technological progress.
My first encounter with patents led me to a great job. What will the patent system do for you?
