Any business, which invests in research and development, cannot afford to ignore the power of patents in protecting that investment. Patent protection provides a means of obtaining a monopoly in a desired country or countries for a term of up to 20 years from the date of filing for an invention, be it a process or product. Strategic patenting ensures that the benefits of research and development can be wrapped up, retained and protected to give a competitive edge in the marketplace. Combined with effective policing of patent rights, a company can establish itself firmly in a particular field, and can prevent its competitors from riding on the wave of its investment.

Although the cost of patenting is high, a patent has a high presumption of validity, because the claims of a patent are thoroughly searched by the Patent Office and the claims are examined in detail by a Patent Examiner. This high presumption of validity means that companies respect patent rights and do not tend to infringe patents deliberately. The cost of bringing a patent action before the courts is high, but alleged cases of infringement rarely come to court, with disputes usually being settled early.

A patent may protect an invention, but this does not mean that the invention is free for use. A competing company may already have protected the same invention, but with broader scope. This situation can arise, for example, when a company takes a competitor product and improves it. Although the improvement may well be patentable in its own right, it may also be covered by the competitor's earlier patent. In this position, patent protection of the improvement can be vital in order to negotiate, for example, to obtain a cross-licence agreement to enable the improvement to be sold.

In today's marketplace, we believe that it is more important than ever to be IP aware. Keep your competitors at bay with strategic IP protection and give certainty to retaining your market share.