IP Intelligence
Patent Criticalities
The things that quietly decide whether an invention can be protected - explained before they cost you anything.
Showing 8 of 56.
A granted patent does not mean you are free to sell
A patent is a right to stop other people. It is not a licence to practise your own invention. Your product can be simultaneously protected by your patent and blocked…
Claim 1 describes your product instead of your invention
Claim 1 is the patent. If it recites the specific product you happened to build - your materials, your dimensions, your architecture - then a competitor only has to …
Adding words does not make a claim stronger
It feels safer to describe the invention thoroughly in the claim. It is the opposite of safer. Every additional word is an additional condition that a competitor has…
A granted patent can still be taken away
Grant is a decision by an examining office on the material in front of it. Section 13(4) says expressly that it carries no warranty of validity - and there are four …
Nobody enforces your patent for you
Granting a patent and enforcing it are done by completely different institutions. The Patent Office has no role once a patent is granted - enforcement is a civil act…
The case turns on what one word means
Before anyone asks whether a product infringes, the court decides what the claim means. That single decision then governs both infringement and validity - which is w…
What you said to the examiner is a public document
Every argument, amendment and concession made to get a patent granted sits on a public file that anyone can inspect. It is the first thing an opponent's counsel read…
Published is not granted
Publication makes your application public. It does not make it enforceable. Between publication and grant you have privileges and rights as if the patent had been gr…
This is the Ragulika IP Educational Criticality - our own editorial prioritisation device, to help you decide what to read first. It is not a legal score, it is not calculated from your facts, and it says nothing about the strength of any particular application.
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Educational guidance, not legal advice. This material is published by Ragulika IP for general education and information. It is not legal advice, it does not create a professional-client relationship, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own facts. Patentability, infringement, prosecution strategy and every other IP outcome turn on the specific facts and on the law and Patent Office practice as they stand at the time you act. Please take professional advice before making a decision, and read the underlying provision or judgment before relying on any point stated here.