Patent Evaluations Completed by Expert Witnesses
Patent evaluations are important to ensure the applications is unique and not the same as previous patents that already exist. This is because a patent for an invention gives the applicant the ability to use it exclusively with a process, product or similar item.
This makes evaluations important when there are possible investors or others that could back an inventor. The creation must be examined for the possible exclusive rights to the product determined through an evaluation process. This usually means a professional is needed to assist with these matters. An expert witness may do so before there is a case or during a court room claim.
Some patents are available that may be matched or competed with, but the duplication process may not be available until the patent expires. Multiple evaluations are often necessary by the examiner to ensure the same findings are discovered. Typically, these are concurrent evaluations due to the lengthy nature of patent reviews. The applications process is generally long and expensive for the inventor, and an unbiased evaluation is needed to ensure the analysis is free of subjective decisions. Resources are also important. If the person or company does not have the appropriate resources to ensure the product is able to break through the market, there could be severe difficulties later.
Factors of an Evaluation
For a patent, there are various factors that must be in place for the application to be successful. It has been researched and explained that over 90 percent of all patent applications have reference material to something that already exists. However, because the process is new that alters the original product enough, many of these are successfully evaluated and provided the intellectual property protection of a patent. Another factor includes the size of the competition with similar inventions or patents. The length of the life of the patent is important as well. Whether there is an investor may depend on if there are exclusive rights to the patented item and the type of technology or processes used to create the product.Product Usefulness
One of the primary and important considerations is if the patented product has any type of usefulness. It is crucial to determine if the exclusivity of the product would be valid as well as if the company or individual behind it is able to market it successfully to the public consumer. However, without any form of usefulness, the item may not pass an evaluation. This is due to the higher demand for such products, even if it is merely for physical appearance as some patents are geared towards. For an expert witness assisting or as the sole evaluator, he or she may need the prototype to ensure the item is useful and has a need.Quantity of Patents Versus the Quality
There is research that suggests that only five percent of all patent applications are for new and innovative creations. That means that the other 95 percent are routine and have only minor or insignificant changes to a previously proposed patent invention. The evaluator has to review previous patent applications and inventions against the new ones, and this takes much of the time he or she has in determining if the patent should be granted. Of the five percent, has been explained to account for nearly two-thirds of the value of the invention portfolio. This is due to valuable and only supporting invention explanations being proposed by an inventor, but many of these persons work with a company. This makes the quality more important to look at with only one out of every five or ten and the rest as extraneous.Expert Evaluation with Expert Witnesses
The evaluation is important to ensure an application is granted for a quality invention that has value and is new or innovative. Even if the item has been created previously, it is possible to perform a different set of processes that make the invention new again. For any cases where the patent or application are claimed to be invalid or duplicates of others, an expert witness may be needed to testify. His or her methods of evaluation may be called in question, or he or she may be utilized to determine if the original evaluation is legitimate. This may require more analysis of the person involved or the application and procedure of creating the new invention. However, an expert witness may determine a duplicate claim to be invalid based on previously examined patents, inventions or application documentation.Provided by HG.org
Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer.
