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According to Belgian patent law, the right to a patent for an invention belongs to the inventor or to its successor in title. Therefore, the right to a patent always originates from the inventor, i.e. a natural person. However, this right can be assigned to another entity, such as a company, by means of an agreement. The assignment is important because, in its absence, the inventor can request the Court to transfer the patent to itself or to be registered as co-owner of the patent if the inventor only partially contributed to the invention. Alternatively, the inventor can also request the Court to nullify the patent in its entirety, or partially, when the inventor only contributed to part of the invention.

Did you know that you can increase the chance of success of obtaining a strong patent by doing a novelty search before drafting a patent application?

Indeed, to be eligible for patent protection, an invention needs to be new and inventive. An invention is novel if it has not been known to the public in any way before filing a patent application. It is considered inventive if, having regard to the state of the art (i.e. what is publicly known), it is not obvious to the person skilled in the art and provides a technical effect.

You have come up with a process, a device, or a product that solves a particular technical problem? However, you believe that it is so simple and obvious it must surely not be patentable…Think again! Actually, you might be using hindsight knowledge.

Once the solution to a particular problem is known, it is of course tempting to think it was easy or straightforward to imagine. This is called hindsight. However, this is not how inventive step is assessed at the European Patent Office (EPO). Indeed, it seems to be obvious now … but was it really obvious before the solution was actually known?

Inventors are often reluctant to disclose all technical details of their invention in their patent application. They fear that disclosing these details in a patent application makes it too easy for copycats.

Although this reasoning is certainly understandable, it goes against the idea of patent protection. Disclosing your invention helps society as a whole to broaden the state of the art and to stimulate innovation. In exchange for disclosing your invention, a granted patent gives you the right to exclude competitors from manufacturing, using, selling, offering for sale, importing or exporting your patented invention for a limited term.