Patent right

Patentright is governed in the Netherlands by the 1995 Rijksoctrooiwet (Dutch only).

The National Patent Act ensures that inventions are protected. This applies to both physical inventions, but also, for example, processes. Unlike copyright, you get patent protection only if you apply for it and it is approved. This means you have to follow certain steps and formalities. If a patent is applied for, then the invention must meet a number of requirements: An invention must be new, inventive, and industrially applicable to get a patent. A patent provides protection for up to 20 years, with a possible 5-year extension for pharmaceutical inventions. After that, the invention is free to use by anyone. Usually, the inventor himself can apply for a patent.

Section 12 of the National Patent Act describes some exceptions:

Paragraph 1 describes the first exception for inventions made during employment. Here, the employee is normally entitled to a patent, unless he was hired specifically to make inventions. In that case, the employer is entitled to the patent.

Paragraph 2 describes the second exception for inventions made during an internship or training. Here, the person with whom the internship or training takes place is entitled to the patent.

Paragraph 3 describes the third exception for inventions made by employees of universities, colleges or research institutes. In the case of colleges, these will be researchers or, for example, professors with research duties. In these cases, the employer is entitled to the patent. The employer can further develop the invention and make money from it. If this happens, the employer sometimes has to pay fair compensation to the inventor according to Article 12(6) of the National Patent Act. This can be laid down in a special arrangement for inventors within the organisation, for example, so that everyone knows in advance what the arrangements are.

Paragraph 6 describes that when an employer who exploits the patent and receives compensation for it in some cases must provide the employee or inventor with equitable compensation for it. The implementation of this may be set forth by the college in an inventor's arrangement. Having an inventor arrangement provides clarity to those involved in advance.

A patent gives you exclusive rights over your invention. A patent is an exclusive right: you can prohibit someone else from commercially applying your invention for up to 20 years.

To qualify for a patent, your invention must meet a number of conditions. The video below (Dutch only) discusses the three most important conditions: new, inventive and reproducibility:

Applying for and getting a patent costs money, not only at the beginning of the application procedure but fees must also be paid once the patent has been granted. You should therefore consider carefully whether a patent will be worthwhile in your circumstances.

Read more about costs on the website of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).

The video below gives you an idea of the costs (Dutch only):

For a successful search for patent documents, a good search strategy is essential. Which search strategy is best used depends on:

• The purpose of the patent search;
• The information available at the beginning of the patent search;
• In which patent literature is searched: the Dutch or foreign patent registers.  

There are 2 types of data collections that play a role in the field of patents. These are the patent databases and the patent register. They both serve different purposes.  

You search a patent database if you are interested in existing patents that describe similar inventions and technical information. You can find information about:

• the technology described;
• the developments in a particular technology; and
• the applicants for these patents.  

There are several patent databases: both commercial and freely accessible. Commercial databases are accessible only through payment. The added value of these databases is often in additional search and visualization capabilities. In addition, the data are often enriched with external data sources. The information provided by the Netherlands Patent Office focuses only on the freely accessible databases, in particular Espacenet of the European Patent Office.

International searches can include WIPO's Global Brand Database.

In a patent register, the national patent office keeps track of all national patent applications. So here you can see whether a patent is valid or expired, as well as who the current owner is and what correspondence there has been regarding a specific patent application. Because a patent is a national right, each country has its own registry. The European Patent Office has its own register of all European patent applications. So you search a patent register if you want to know:

• whether a patent is (still) legally valid;
• who the owner is; or
• if you want to see correspondence between the applicant and the patent office.  

An example is the Netherlands Patent Register.

You can also use general search engines, of course. Google also has a specific patent search engine: Google Patents.

You can search for existing patents in the Espacenet database, which contains more than 130 million patent publications from more than 90 countries. You can also find the names of inventors and companies that have applied for patents.

Searching for patents is not like what you are used to with normal Internet search engines. The disadvantage of searching for patents is that you don't know what terms a patent is described in. So searching with keywords is possible and certainly plays a role in the search strategy, but initially you look for the relevant patent classification.

The steps in the search process are roughly as follows:

1. Make clear to yourself what the real innovation is you have developed and what aspects are characteristic in it.
2. Determine the patent classifications that apply to your technical development.
3. Perform an initial search taking into account the most important aspects of the innovation, this is often a combination of one or more classifications with a few keywords.
4. A search is never done all at once. Improve the search with other classifications you come across. Depending on the number of results, you can broaden or narrow the search with new search terms.

The Dutch Patent Register is the publicly accessible register of 'Octrooicentrum Nederland' (Patentcentre Netherlands), where you can consult the status of patent applications and patents. The patent register is available in Dutch and in English.

In the register you can search for patents and you can search for documents. You can do that in two ways:

1. By using the basic search screen with a limited number of search criteria.
2. By using the extended search screen, in which more complex search queries can be built.    

Use the help page with a detailed description and tips for searching.

Google also offers a search function to search for patents worldwide through Google Patents.

This search engine is as you are used to from Google in a search bar, in a few ways:

1. By searching on a patent number or application number,
2. By using keywords,
3. By pasting a piece of text or paragraph.  

Use the help page with a detailed description and tips for searching.