After you decide to start your IT business, you should plan to patent your software and products in advance. The list of objects to create a patent depends on the state in which you plan to develop your business in the field of IT. There is no need for a product that is developed from scratch already, as it involves the modernization of already existing products or programs.
There is a general analyst who claims that 8 out of 10 patents are created for advanced objects such as:
- devices or cars and spare parts for them;
- pharmacological apparatus;
- algorithms and software;
- electronics, accessories and appliances.
Differences between Copyright and Patent in IT
Software can be subject to both patent law and copyright one. Typically, it does have a patent. Depending on the jurisdiction in which you receive your patent, the copyright term may range from 10 to 25 years, while the copyright term ranges from 50 to 70 years, even after the author has died. That’s why you can use copyright, but this kind of protection has its drawbacks. If the developer planned to make protection for the Sweet Meet app on a free APK download site, it should use the patent.
The main problem with copyright law is that it registers software on the same principle as a work of literature. Thus, officials take a pdf file, which describes the source code. This is the text that will be copyrighted. However, you can use your knowledge of the programming language and software recompilation, and then the detection of a violation will become a very difficult process.
Wobble app not let anyone steal your software code and use it for fraudulent purposes. The developers of the Summer Camera app would also be sorry to lose their product, in which they have invested so much time and effort and which has a very simple and useful functionality. However, copyright will not help you protect your software, however useful and simple it may be.
That’s why you should keep in mind that patent law protects any software better than copyright one, although copyright has a long term of protection of the object. This is an important topic that you should know and understand, as well as be able to apply in practice.
Types of patents and features of registration
First of all, you should remember that patents are divided into design, invention and utility model. These are the varieties that have the features of registration depending on the country. For example, you will have difficulty registering a useful model in Canada or the United States. But Germany, Ukraine and Japan will not give you any challenges in that. Design patents have other features, and you can use them in Europe, but not in Cyprus at IPbox.
As a rule, the application for registration takes one of two methods:
- Patent Cooperation Agreement. In this case, the user submits an application to the employees of the national agency that registers the patent, which operates in several states at the same time.
- Through the appropriate authority in a country. Due to the peculiarities of the legislation of some countries, users have to apply for a patent anywhere they plan to do IT business.
The toughest patent procedure is the American one, which imposes very strict requirements on customers. During the processing of intellectual property protection, you should be prepared for the fact that the agency will return your application for revision repeatedly. That is why obtaining patents for IT products on the territory of China has become popular recently as this state does not impose too strict requirements during this procedure.