Patent Data – Why More is More
In order to obtain a patent, it is necessary to show that your invention is novel and inventive. One aspect of this is that the invention should make a contribution to the relevant field of research. As a result, when a patent application is filed, it ought to contain data, usually in the form of experimental results, to convince the patent office that this is the case. Care must be taken to ensure that in the rush to secure an early filing date, the need to ensure that sufficient data is included in the application at filing is not neglected. In this article Charlotte Dale and Charlotte Fox of Forresters discuss how much data a patent application should ideally contain at filing, with a focus on the views of the European Patent Office (EPO). More
