The Polish technology market is constantly being fueled by new ideas and solutions. This time, I'd like to focus on the process of granting a patent for an invention. Everyone knows that inventions—thanks to their innovative nature—often revolutionize existing processes in a given industry.

Taking the above into account, the main goal of the legislator should be to regulate the procedure for granting a patent in such a way that, on the one hand, the inventor can quickly and easily patent his work, and on the other hand, it is important that the rights of the potential inventor are secured.

The explanation of the national patent granting procedure should begin with an explanation of the concept of a patent itself.

According to the definition contained in Article 63 of the Act of 30 June 2000 - Industrial Property Law (hereinafter referred to as the Act), a patent is a form of protection for the inventor, which provides him with the exclusive right to use the invention for commercial or professional purposes within the territory of a given country, i.e. in our case, within the territory of Poland.

There is also the concept of a so-called patent of addition, the definition of which is contained in Article 30 of the Act – it is a patent for an improvement or supplementation of an invention, which has the features of the invention and cannot be used on its own (e.g. it is part of a more complex mechanism, the operation of which requires many parts in which the given invention is included).

It is worth adding that patent protection also exists at the European level, allowing for the invention to be protected in selected countries belonging to the European Patent Organisation.

Let's move on to the patent granting procedure itself.

The national procedure is initiated by an application to the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland (hereinafter referred to as the UPRP), which must contain the following elements (which are part of the application documentation):

• a description of the invention revealing the purpose of its existence and its essence,
• an application containing: the applicant's name, the subject of the application and the application for a patent,
• patent claim, i.e. defining the scope of the protection sought,
• abbreviated description of the invention,
• technical drawings, if they are needed to understand the operation of the invention, importantly, if utility model protection is applied for, the drawing is always mandatory.

In addition to the documents indicated above, in accordance with the Regulation of the Prime Minister of 17 September 2001 on the filing and examination of invention and utility model applications, must also include the information specified in § 5 paragraphs 1 and 2 in conjunction with § 16 paragraph 1 of the Regulation of the Prime Minister of 17 September 2001 on the filing and examination of invention and utility model applications (read together with the amendments introduced by the Regulation of the Prime Minister of 3 November 2016 amending the regulation on the filing and examination of invention and utility model applications). This information includes, among other things, the applicant's personal data and the title (name) of the invention. All of the above-mentioned documents are part of the documentation needed to submit an application under the patent grant procedure.

After submitting the application, the following occurs:

• classification of the invention and preliminary assessment of the application – the basis for the assessment is the International Patent Classification, which contains sections on various forms of operation of inventions (e.g. Section A – basic human needs),
• Formal legal review – at this stage, a request to supplement the application or eliminate any deficiencies may be issued. Failure to comply with the request will result in the proceedings being discontinued.
• examination of applications under Articles 28 and 29 of the Act. These Articles contain the listed negative premises for recognizing an object/activity as an invention (i.e., indicating cases in which we cannot recognize "something" as an invention), for example, products of a purely aesthetic nature are not considered inventions,
• announcement in the Patent Office Bulletin that the application has been recorded,
• a substantive examination of the application. Based on a successful examination of patentability (the features that must exist for an invention to be patentable), a decision may be issued to grant exclusive rights to the invention.

Finally, it's worth noting that after a decision issued by the Polish Patent Office becomes final, anyone may file an opposition. The deadline for filing an opposition is six months, running from the date of publication in "Patent Office News" of the granting of the right – the patent (legal basis: Article 246 of the Act). Of course, the use of this remedy must be justified, and if it is found to be justified, the Polish Patent Office issues a decision to repeal the right and discontinue the proceedings.

This alert is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

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