@@@ABC to Patent, Design and Trademark
As the well-known success story of Nichia Corporation, the patentee
of blue color light emitting diodes, shows, small-and-medium-sized
businesses cannot gain a competitive position over large corporations
in the market nor join the ranks of those large ones without holding
exclusive rights, such as patent rights. We will introduce you briefly
to what a patent, a design and a trademark, which are the seeds to help
the companies grow up, are.
1. Patent
A gfloating laundry water cleanerh is a well-known patented
commodity invented by a housewife in Japan. It has a top-opened and
bottom-closed conic net suspended by a float and is used for collecting
dust in a swirling laundry water flow during washing clothes. The
cleaner was such a big hit that families throughout Japan used it in
their laundry machines until fully-automatic machines became popular.
If you come up with a new product that no one knows and no
publication shows, you can obtain a patent like the housewife. Once
you have obtained a patent, you can sell your invented product without
being imitated by others. You can gain such a strong position in a
market competition as to make your business grow up. You can also
gain a profit by licensing your patent right to a large corporation
even if you cannot manufacture your patented product by yourself. If
you, running a small-and-medium-sized business, would like to wrestle
on an even gSumoh ring with a large corporation in a scene of a
market competition or a negotiation for collaboration, you have to be
armed with a patent right.
You have to file a patent application to the Japanese Patent Office
(JPO) to obtain a patent. Specifically, you have to show your
invention in writings and drawings in detail, and submit them to the
JPO. Filing of a patent application does not mean the grant of a
patent but a starting point to the grant. You further have to request
the JPO to examine your patent application within 3 years from the
filing date.
Once you request the examination, an examiner from the JPO examines
your patent application. The examiner searches a large number of
prior art documents, and examines whether your invention is new and
unobvious in light of prior-art found. If your invention passes the
examination successfully, you are granted a patent right. You can
maintain your patent right until 20 years after the filing date with
paying annual fees.
Please note, if you come up with a new idea, you have to keep it
secret from the outside of your company until you file a patent
application on the idea. If you have sold your inventive product
before you file the application, you cannot obtain a patent on the
idea any longer. This is because a patent is an exclusive right
granted to someone who has provided our society with a new valuable
idea that no one knows as a reward to encourage further inventions.
2. Design
If you manufacture a product in a beautiful shape or add an ornament
to it, then you can enhance consumerfs motivation to buy yours. If
you come up with a new design of a product appearance that no one
knows and no publication shows, you can obtain a design registration.
Once you have obtained a design registration, you can sell your
designed product without being imitated by others. You can gain such
a strong position in a market competition as to make your business
grow up. You can also gain a profit by licensing your design right,
like a patent right, to a large corporation even if you cannot
manufacture your registered product by yourself.
You have to file a design application (precisely, an application for
design registration) to the JPO to obtain a design registration.
Specifically, you have to show your design in writings and drawings,
and submit them to the JPO. Once you file a design application, an
examiner from the JPO examines your design application. You do not
need to request the examination of a design application, contrary to
that of a patent application.
The examiner searches a large number of prior art documents, and
examines whether your design is new and unobvious in light of prior-
art found. If your design passes the examination successfully, you
are granted a design right. You can maintain your design right for 15
years from the registration date with paying annual fees, contrary to
a patent right.
Please note, if you come up with a new design, you have to keep it
secret from the outside of your company until you file a design
application on the design. Even after you have sold your designed
product, you, however, can file a design application within half a year
by submitting the proof of the sale, contrary to a patent application.
This is because it is a habitual practice in the business field to
conclude the design of a product after testing the sale.
3. Trademark
If you are one of the manufacturers of some product, you have to
make consumers distinguish yours from otherfs one. For this purpose,
you probably apply your company name or product name on the product or
the package of it. For example, you might give a new name "Whirly
Floaty" or "Floaty Cleanie" if you were a manufacturer of the above-
stated cleaner. Such a name or a sign used to enable consumers to
distinguish your and otherfs products is called "trademark."
If you continue using the same trademark for the same product, users
who have been satisfied with the product come to buy the same one
again with trust using the trademark as a guide. A reputation comes
to diffuse around the users together with the trademark. Your
trademark, by continuously being used, accumulate a goowill of your
company or product. Your trademark becomes a "face" of your company
or product like a movie star's face, which is nothing but an
irreplaceable property.
Once you have obtained a trademark registration, you can use your
registered trademark without being imitated by others. You can
snowball your property safely without being robbed by others. On
contrary, if you have not obtained a trademark registration, others
may obtain the registration for the same or similar mark, and as a
result, cause you unable to use your trademark any more. You come to
loose all your accumulated property and credibility in a moment.
You have to file a trademark application (precisely, an application
for trademark registration) to the JPO to obtain a trademark
registration. Specifically, you have to show your trademark and goods
or services that the mark is used for in writings, and submit them to
the JPO. Once you file a trademark application, an examiner from the
JPO examines your trademark application without a request for the
examination similarly to a design application.
The examiner searches a large number of registered trademarks, and
examines whether your trademark is similar to others. If your
trademark passes the examination successfully, you are granted a
trademark right. You can maintain your trademark right for 10 years
from the registration date. You can renew the duration of your
trademark right every 10 years with paying a fee, so that you can
even maintain your trademark right permanently, contrary to a patent
nor design right.
(Updated in November 2006)
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