What is an invention?

The invention is in practice a technical solution to a known technical problem in the relevant field of technology. In other words, it can be an improvement of a machine, device or a new process for making products, etc. Some activities of human practice are protected as an object of intellectual property and are not considered an invention. Inventions can be divided into two main categories – product and method. The inventions can be protected as an object of industrial property by patent for an invention or registration of a utility model. The most important condition for this is that the invention meets the criteria for patentability. To meet the patentability criteria, it must:

∴ be new;

∴ to involve an inventive step;

∴ to be susceptible to industrial applicability.

The protection of the invention by a patent or utility model is not obtained automatically. Obtaining protection requires certain actions to be taken by the inventor in order to obtain his monopoly right.

What is invention and what is not?

How to protect an invention?

Protection of inventions is provided by a patent for invention or certificate for registration of utility model. These documents legally protect the intellectual property rights of inventors. The patent certifies that the claimed invention is indeed patentable. It is issued for inventions in all fields of technology that are new, involve an inventive step and are susceptible to industrial applicability. The legal protection of a utility model is provided through registration. In fact, the registration does not guarantee the patentability of the technical solution, as no patentability analysis is performed during the procedure. This is why utility models are often called “small inventions”.

In order to obtain a patent or certificate for registration, it is necessary to prepare and file an application before an authorized organization. The patent application for an invention may include technical solutions of both categories of inventions. The utility model application may not include methods, biotechnological inventions, chemical compounds, or their use.

What should be done to protect the invention?

It is advisable to start with a preliminary patent search to determine the state of the art. This search will provide the necessary information on the state of the art in the field and will provide a preliminary analysis of the patentability of the invention. The next step is to draft and file an application for a patent for invention or an application for registration of utility model. The preparation of the application is a complex process that requires in-depth knowledge of the drafting rules.

Each application must include a description, claims and drawings (if necessary) that have specific content and structure. The most important moment in the drafting of the application is the formulation of the patent claims. The claims define the scope of the legal protection of the invention. The description of the technical solution contributes to a clear understanding of the claims and should not be neglected. For Bulgaria, applications are filed with the Bulgarian Patent Office, but different procedures are available for interest in protection in more than one country.

What are the criteria for patentability?

The invention is new if it differs from the known technologies in the field, i.e. is not part of the state of the art. If the invention does not follow in an obvious manner from the state of the art or if a person skilled in the art, or a person with ordinary knowledge and skills in the field cannot easily carry it out on the basis of the state of the art, it is considered to involve an inventive step. The possibility of an invention being repeatedly reproduced or applied is an indication that the same is susceptible to industrial applicability, i.e. it is industrially applicable.

What is “state of the art”?

The state of the art is practically everything that has become known or publicly available through the oral or written description, as well as an electronic publication, use or other disclosure anywhere in the world before the date of filing a patent application for an invention or an application for utility model registration. In assessing the novelty, the written document or electronic publication shall be considered publicly available if at the date of filing or the priority date it was possible for the public to familiarize themselves with their content, and there were no confidential barriers restricting access to them. These documents are considered to be publicly available from the date of their publication.

Oral description, use or otherwise disclosed before the priority date shall be included in the state of the art only if the disclosure of the object is documented or carried out in a way that allows it to be reproduced repeatedly. The state of the art can be analyzed by a preliminary patent search of the state of the art.