Necessity truly is the mother of invention — many innovators are finding new and unexpected opportunities during the present crisis. Here’s one such success story and a look at how you can rapidly file patent applications to protect on your game-changing ideas.
A case in point
One of our clients — Avonwood Developments Ltd — has been innovating for decades in the field of RFID tagging for the purposes of product identification in asset management and proximity detection. An RFID tag typically carries an identification code that can be detected by radio-equipment in a particular area. Therefore, if an RFID tag is carried by a factory worker, their proximity to a machine or another hazard can be monitored and an alarm raised when they get too close.
Avonwood saw how its technology could help people maintain social distancing, which is a key element in the fight against the COVID-19 virus.
Avonwood is developing a miniaturised RFID transceiver to be carried by a shopper in a supermarket or other public environment, in order to alert users (through an audible beep or vibration) when distances are narrowing or too close. This encourages a safe distance to be observed without being unduly intrusive.
Quickfile questions — how to file a patent at speed
Like Avonwood, if you identify a new innovation, you may need to take swift action to protect your rights before any public disclosure of your idea takes place. A valid patent can’t be obtained in the UK or Europe if an enabling disclosure of the invention has been made available to the public before a patent application is filed. This includes any uncontrolled written or oral record of the key principles of the invention.
There is a common misconception that filing, at the patent office, a copy of whatever you intend to disclose to a third party will effectively protect you for future patent applications. Yet it isn’t quite that simple. UK and European law is relatively strict with regard to whether a valid priority claim can be established from a first filed document if it doesn’t contain a clear indication of the scope of the invention — ideally in the form of patent claims and/or corresponding statements within the description.
While it is possible to file a basic description at the UK Intellectual Property Office to establish a filing date, our strong recommendation is to have such a disclosure checked by a patent attorney to ensure that it meets certain requirements. Your advisor will be able to suggest improvements and inform you about any additional disclosure that may be needed to give the application the best chance of success. It could be that the information is available, but you didn’t think to include it — a patent attorney will flag what is missing.
Drafting and submitting a patent application ordinarily takes at least a few weeks. However, it’s possible to move much faster in urgent situations. It’s even possible to validly file up to midnight on the same day as a public disclosure, since the UK Patents Act doesn’t recognise time periods of less than a day for disclosure purposes.
In an ideal world, to do the job properly, it’s best to contact your patent attorney at least a few weeks before disclosure is likely to take place. If this isn’t possible, take action as soon as you can to make sure that your ideas are protected.
