Before you have an invention patented, it is important to find out in which countries a patent application would be the most worthwhile. Indeed this question can?t be answered that easily since not every patent is similarly useful in certain countries. Consequently it is not possible to give a general answer to this question. Nevertheless today we would like to demonstrate you some perspectives.
A Strong Economy Promises the Best Sales
In the most cases the economically most powerful countries of Europe are the most interesting ones for patent applications. That is because you can usually gain the best sales with your invention in those countries. The economically most powerful countries are currently Germany, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Swiss. We can tell from experience that the most patent applications are actually made there. Thus countries like Greece or Spain are, due to their current economically bad situation, less interesting for patent applications. But also countries like Denmark, Poland or the Czech Republic are usually uninteresting for patent applicants as there is not much economical fluctuation.
Obtain Different Points of View!
But anyway, you can?t say in general that the economically most powerful countries are in each case the best option for your patent. Much more important than the sales of the respective country is the question in which country your invention would be the most suitable and where you benefit the most. Let us give you an example. The Czech Republic is considered as economically weak. Indeed the agriculture is strongly represented. Thus it would be especially reasonable to have for instance a new harvester patented in the Czech Republic. A patent application in a country which is economically powerful but which is not able to make use of the respective invention, is of no benefit for the patent applicant.
Another option is to think about the countries where your direct competitors have their place of business. If you have your invention patented in one of those countries your competitors might be restrained and eventually be forced to do redevelopments or a ?Design around?. This would cause significant temporal and financial resources for your opponent.
Hence you should reflect which benefit you expect from your patent application. Do you only like to put a spoke in your competitor?s wheel? Then you only have to find out his distribution countries. Or would you like instead to proceed strategically and to gain the most possible revenue for your product? Then you should research which countries have the highest benefit for your invention.
There Is no Patent Recipe for This Question
The reply to the question in which countries your patent application would be the most worthwhile may decide about the question whether the classical batch patent or the new method of the EU unitary patent would be the most appropriate for the invention of your company in future. If the application for your invention is only worthwhile in a few countries, you may probably decide against the unitary patent. If you however conceive the protection of your patent throughout Europe as suitable the unitary patent would be much more reasonable. What the unitary patent is all about, you can find out here.
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