Our blogs usually cover patents on physical products. But you can also patent a process. How does that work?
Protection of a process
It is possible to protect a particular process with a patent as long as it involves one or more steps, at least one of which is technical in nature.
This could be a car engine, for example, which is equipped with a board computer that responds to certain measurement data. The board computer completes the following steps:
- Reads the temperature in a specific part of the engine,
- Compares the temperature reading with the desired temperature, and
- Controls the engine on the basis of the temperature comparison.
It is not the product - the board computer - that is innovative, but the smart steps the board computer completes. In cases like this it is important to protect the process rather than the product.
When do I opt for a patent on a process instead of a product?
- When an existing product - such as the familiar board computer - is used for a new application.
- When a certain process can be carried out with the aid of various different machines. To avoid a situation in which you have to patent all the individual machines, it can be advisable to protect the process. This will enable you to take steps against your competitor if he uses your process. In that case it will not make any difference which machine he uses.
What are the benefits of a patent on a process?
All products that can be obtained as a direct result of using your process are protected by the patent. It goes without saying that it is important for you to be able to demonstrate that the product was actually made using the protected process.
When do you NOT opt to patent the process?
If you can’t tell from the end product how it was made, it’s often better to keep the process secret. There are two reasons:
- A well-kept secret can stay yours forever. Coca-Cola’s recipe is a good example. Had it been patented, any drinks maker could have copied it after 20 years. Lab tests can now identify its ingredients, yet nobody has matched the taste. So the process probably makes all the difference.
- If you can’t tell from the product whether your process was used, infringement is hard to prove. The product could have been made another way that you haven’t protected.
What can you not protect with a patent application on a process?
So-called 'business models' that do not involve any technical steps. Such as selling airline tickets online via an auction, which involves the following steps:
- Offering a specific airline ticket to several clients,
- Letting customers place bids,
- Selecting the highest bid, and
- Allocating the airline ticket to the customer who placed the highest bid.
What’s missing is a technical contribution. Steps like these don’t make the invention inventive. It’s a clever way to sell tickets at the best price, but not a technical invention.
