Patent application before the SIC
A patent is a privilege consisting of the right granted by the State to an inventor to exclusively exploit the invention for a certain period of time. Exploitation may consist of exclusively and directly commercializing the patented product, or through third parties by granting licenses, or transferring the rights obtained through its sale so that a third party may exploit the invention. In Colombia, the time is 20 years.
It is important to mention that it is possible to patent inventions that consist of products, procedures, manufacturing methods, machines or devices that are obtained from ideas. On the contrary, it is not possible to protect discoveries, living beings, or what exists in nature, scientific theories, mathematical methods, therapeutic or surgical methods, financial or business methods, the use of existing products (patented or not), artistic, literary or scientific works, or computer programs.
In order to protect an invention, it must meet three conditions:
- Novelty: the invention cannot exist anywhere else in the world.
- Inventive: not consisting of an invention obvious to an expert in the field in which the invention is categorized.
- Industrial application: the invention must have the possibility of being used or manufactured in any industry.
In Colombia, before filing the application you can find out if your invention meets these conditions. The SIC, through the Patent Bank, offers the Technological Search Service, through which the interested party can obtain useful information that gives indications as to whether its invention is new. The SIC performs the search based on the information detailed by the interested party in the search request, as well as on the information contained in the patent applications published both in Colombia and abroad, providing the interested party with the documents that it considers to be most related to what is requested.
Now, if you decide to file the application physically or virtually through the Virtual Industrial Property Office SIPI, you must provide a document with the following information:
- Description:
This is a clear and complete explanation of the invention in such a way that a person skilled in the art can execute it. - Claims:
The claims are the novel technical features of the invention, for which legal protection is claimed through the Patent. - Drawings:(if necessary) They are intended to contribute to a better understanding and disclosure of the invention.
- Summary:Brief information about the invention allowing an easy understanding of the technical problem posed, the provided solution of the invention.
Subsequently, the SIC conducts a formal review of the to verify compliance with legal requirements. If there is any formal requirement that is not met, the SIC will require the interested party to complete the missing elements within a period of two months, extendable for another two months.
If the application meets the requirements, it goes to the next stage, which is publication. The purpose of this stage is to allow people to find out what it is that the application is trying to protect and allows them to file oppositions that attempt to undermine the possibility of the application becoming a patent. Then, within the following 6 months from the date of publication, the interested party must request an examination as to whether the invention is patentable. If the patentability examination is not requested, the application will be considered abandoned. The SIC examines whether the invention complies with the patentability requirements. If it finds that the invention is not patentable or that the application does not comply with any of the requirements for grant, it will require the interested party.
If there is a response to the requirement, the application is re-examined, if the concept is favorable, the patent is granted, otherwise it is denied. The status of the procedure can be consulted at the following link: https://sipi.sic.gov.co/sipi/Extra/IP/PT/Qbe.aspx?sid=638222512837483239
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