Patents

The correct patent pro­tec­tion incre­a­ses the value, posi­tion and deve­lop­ment oppor­tu­ni­ti­es of a com­pa­ny.

Our services

Bjerkéns Patentbyrå has exten­si­ve expe­ri­ence in mana­ging patent mat­ters and hel­ping cli­ents in are­as such as:

• asses­sing whet­her patent pro­tec­tion is pos­sib­le and advi­sing cli­ents on pos­sib­le ways to pro­ceed,
• drafting and filing patent appli­ca­tions in Sweden and in other countri­es,
• moni­to­ring and respon­ding to com­mu­ni­ca­tions from patent offi­ces,
• asses­sing infringe­ment mat­ters,
• repre­sen­ting cli­ents during dis­pu­tes con­cer­ning their inven­tions or patents, such as in cases of attemp­ted patent inva­li­da­tion or patent infringe­ments,
• vali­da­ting European patents in Sweden,
• moni­to­ring time limits, such as for annu­al fees
• deve­lo­ping appro­pri­a­te patent stra­te­gi­es for com­pa­ni­es.

What is required for a patent protection?

In order to obtain a patent regi­stra­tion, an inven­tion needs to meet three cri­te­ria:

• The inven­tion must be new (novel­ty). This requi­re­ment sta­tes, for examp­le, that the inven­tor must not have shown the inven­tion pub­licly or descri­bed it in any pub­li­ca­tion befo­re the patent appli­ca­tion is filed. It is also impor­tant that pri­or to the filing of the patent appli­ca­tion, the inven­tor does not discuss the inven­tion with others who are not sub­ject to a con­fi­den­ti­a­li­ty agre­e­ment.
• The inven­tion must ful­fil the requi­re­ment of an inven­ti­ve step. This means that it should dif­fer essen­ti­al­ly from the pri­or art.
• The inven­tion must be indust­ri­al­ly appli­cab­le, mea­ning that it must be tech­ni­cal in natu­re and effect, and be repli­cab­le.

Application process

It is of the utmost impor­tan­ce that any appli­ca­tion is care­ful­ly con­si­de­red and correct­ly draf­ted from the begin­ning, with the patent requi­re­ments accu­ra­tely for­mu­la­ted. This is becau­se, in prin­cip­le, adding new tech­ni­cal infor­ma­tion to the patent appli­ca­tion once it has been filed is not per­mitted.

Bjerkéns Patentbyrå advi­ses cli­ents on the rules, regu­la­tions and ques­tions sur­rounding patent appli­ca­tions and the oppor­tu­ni­ti­es that exist. Information is also avai­lab­le on the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV) web­si­te.

Does your inven­tion meet the requi­re­ments to obtain a patent? We would be hap­py to help you answer that ques­tion.

National applications

In Sweden a patent appli­ca­tion must be filed at the PRV, whe­re the inven­tion, as defi­ned in the appli­ca­tion, will be exa­mi­ned to assess whet­her it ful­fils all the patent requi­re­ments.

Patents may also be obtai­ned in Sweden through filing an appli­ca­tion at the EPO. A simi­lar exa­mi­na­tion to that of PRV is car­ri­ed out by the EPO, and once the patent is gran­ted, it also becomes valid in Sweden if the appli­cant so desires.

The for­mal rules and regu­la­tions regar­ding patents and patent appli­ca­tions in Sweden are dicta­ted by the Swedish Patents Act. These are in accor­dan­ce with European regu­la­tions, which in turn are alig­ned with EU laws.

Ensuring strong pro­tec­tion for gre­at inven­tions.

International applications

Sweden has adop­ted inter­na­tio­nal con­ven­tions that pro­tect inven­tions wit­hin the intel­lectu­al pro­per­ty sphe­re.

The Paris Convention, the International Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and the European Patent Convention (EPC) enab­le an appli­cant to pro­ceed with an appli­ca­tion in seve­ral other countri­es wit­hin one year of the ori­gi­nal patent appli­ca­tion being filed in Sweden, by clai­ming somet­hing cal­led pri­o­ri­ty.

Through the PCT, it is per­mitted to delay the final com­ple­tion of an appli­ca­tion for spe­ci­fic countri­es for up to 30 mont­hs after the date of filing of the ori­gi­nal appli­ca­tion. One advan­tage of this is that cer­tain costs may be post­po­ned.

The EPC allows the grant of a patent for all the EPC contracting European sta­tes.

For how long does patent protection last?

In Sweden and in most other countri­es a patent is gran­ted for 20 years from the date of filing a patent appli­ca­tion. Annual fees are to be paid to the patent aut­ho­ri­ti­es to main­tain the patent gran­ted. Upon expi­ra­tion and ces­sa­tion of the rights, others may fre­ely use the paten­ted tech­no­lo­gy.