Patents and designs - protection starts with a filing, not with an idea
An invention presented at a conference, posted on social media or shown to investors is frequently beyond saving: a patent requires novelty, and a technical solution disclosed by its own creator stops being new. The most important move in a patent matter is therefore not a legal document at all - it is the decision about the order in which you file and speak publicly.
This page sets out how the law protects technical and visual solutions: what separates a patent, a utility model and an industrial design in terms of duration and requirements, how claims are drafted and why they define the real scope of protection, what the examination at Sakpatenti involves, how protection is extended abroad from a single filing, and who owns an invention created by an employee during working hours. Brands, copyright and licensing are covered on separate pages.
Four instruments: subject matter, duration, requirement
A single product often calls for several instruments at once: the mechanism under a patent, the appearance as a design, the name as a trademark.
From invention to certificate - the stages
Preliminary patentability assessment
The first job is to work out what is genuinely new: working with a patent attorney, the lawyer searches international databases for prior art and isolates the technical effect that sets the solution apart. The choice between a patent and a utility model is made here too, as is the question of whether to file at all - sometimes the right answer is to keep the solution secret.
Controlling disclosure
Before filing, every contact with third parties is papered with a confidentiality agreement: investors, manufacturers, designers, pilot customers. The lawyer also checks what has already been published and whether any grace period for disclosure applies where such a rule exists.
Drafting the claims and description
This is the most technical part and the one that fixes the scope of protection: narrow claims sail through examination but let a competitor design around them with a minor change, while broad claims collide with prior art. Independent and dependent claims, the description, drawings and worked examples are prepared together.
Filing and examination at Sakpatenti
The filing date is the priority date. Formal checks are followed by substantive examination; the lawyer answers the examiner's objections by narrowing claims, splitting them and arguing the difference from the cited art. A refusal can be appealed to the appeals chamber and afterwards to the courts.
International expansion
Within the priority period protection is extended abroad: a PCT international application for inventions, which buys time before national phase entry, and the Hague system for designs. The lawyer matches the budget and the country list to the commercial plan, because every country is a separate cost.
Maintenance and enforcement
A patent requires annual fees and non-payment means losing the right. The lawyer keeps the deadline calendar, monitors competing products for infringement, prepares demand letters and claims, and on the defensive side builds invalidation requests based on lack of novelty.
How a patent is lost before the application is even filed
The first mistake is the public presentation. An inventor shows the product at a trade fair, describes it in a startup competition or posts it online, then applies for a patent - and the examiner cites that very publication as prior art. Some jurisdictions operate a grace period for the inventor's own disclosure, but it is short, it does not exist everywhere, and relying on it is risky. The correct sequence is to file first and present afterwards.
The second mistake is picking the wrong instrument. Clients ask for a "patent" where what they actually need is a design or a brand: software as such and business methods are generally not patentable, although a solution delivering a specific technical effect may be; the code of an application is covered by copyright, its interface by design registration, its name by a trademark. The correct combination costs less than one misdirected application.
The third mistake concerns ownership. An invention created by an employee in the course of their duties normally belongs to the employer, but this depends on the contract and on notification rules, while authorship and, in the appropriate cases, compensation stay with the inventor. Where the product was built by an external contractor or freelancer, rights do not pass automatically - a written assignment is required. At the investment or sale stage these are the first documents anyone checks.
The terms a patent case turns on
- Prior art
- Everything publicly available anywhere in the world before the filing date - a publication, a patent, a product on sale, a video. Novelty is measured against all of it, regardless of national borders.
- Inventive step
- The solution must not be obvious to a person skilled in the field in the light of the prior art. This criterion is the main battleground in examination and is applied more leniently to utility models.
- Claims
- The numbered statements that define the scope of protection. Infringement arises where a competing product contains every feature of an independent claim - leave one out and there is no infringement.
- Priority period
- After the first filing there is a window in which applications in other countries keep the original date. For inventions this is usually twelve months, for designs six.
- Annual fees
- Keeping a patent alive requires yearly payments that rise over time. A missed payment terminates the right, and restoration is not always available.
- Invalidation
- A granted patent can be declared invalid if novelty or inventive step is shown to have been absent at the filing date. This is the standard defence of any respondent in infringement proceedings.
What the lawyer needs to start the application
- A technical description of the solution: the problem it solves, how it works, how it differs from what already exists.
- Drawings, diagrams, photographs, prototype data and test results where available.
- A list of the prior art you already know about: competing products, articles, patents.
- The disclosure history: where, when and in how much detail the solution has been discussed publicly.
- The list of authors and the paperwork covering them: employment contracts, task assignments, contractor agreements with an assignment clause.
- The commercial plan: which countries you intend to manufacture or sell in over the coming years, which drives the international strategy and its budget.
Three patent and design matters
The trade fair that destroyed novelty
A manufacturer showed a new device at an international fair and applied for a patent six months later; the examiner cited the company's own presentation materials against it. The lawyer isolated the part of the solution that had never been disclosed at the fair - the construction of one assembly - and filed on narrower claims, while registering the appearance of the article as an industrial design in parallel. The protection ended up narrower, but it was not lost entirely.
The copy that reproduced the shape
A furniture maker found a competitor selling an almost identical version of one of its models. There was no patent, but the industrial design was registered. The lawyer prepared a comparison based on the impression produced on an informed user, arranged a controlled purchase as evidence, and filed a demand letter followed by a claim to stop sales and recover damages. The matter settled and the competitor withdrew the model.
An employee invention discovered during due diligence
A technology company could not demonstrate to an investor that it owned the rights to its core technology: part of it had been written by freelancers with no contract in place. The lawyer mapped the authors, signed assignment agreements with retroactive effect and consideration, rewrote the employment contracts and the service invention procedure, and only then filed in the company's name. The deal closed.
Questions about patents and designs
I have an idea but no prototype yet. Can I obtain a patent?
An idea as such cannot be protected - you need a specific technical solution described in enough detail for a skilled person to carry it out. A prototype is not compulsory, but the description and drawings have to be complete. Where the solution is still taking shape, it is usually better to file once the core technical arrangement is clear.
Does a Georgian patent apply in other countries?
No. A patent is territorial and only has effect in the country that granted it. If manufacturing or sales are planned for other markets, either an international application or direct national filings must be made within the priority period. Starting the expansion late is often impossible, because publication of the first application itself becomes prior art.
Can I patent software or a mobile app?
Software as such is generally not patentable subject matter, although a solution that achieves a specific technical effect - changing how a device operates, for instance - may qualify. In practice an application is protected in three layers: the code by copyright, the look of the interface by design registration, the name and logo by a trademark, often with trade secret protection added for the algorithm.
Patent or utility model?
It depends on the product life cycle and the strength of the solution. A utility model is faster and cheaper, its requirements are gentler, and it suits a device that will be obsolete in five to seven years. A patent takes longer and costs more, but it lasts and is a far stronger asset for licensing. The choice is made once the search results are in.
A competitor is using my patented solution. What now?
The first step is a technical comparison: the competing product must contain every feature of an independent claim, otherwise there is no infringement. Then comes evidence gathering (a controlled purchase, an expert opinion) and a demand letter, followed by a claim for an injunction and damages. Bear in mind that respondents almost always counter by seeking invalidation of your patent, so the weak points of your own grant should be assessed before proceedings start.
Lawyers for patent and design matters
These cases are run by a lawyer and a patent attorney together: one builds the rights and the contracts, the other the claims. The coordinator connects you with the right specialist within 15 minutes.
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Have a new product and no idea which right protects it?
In a free consultation the lawyer will assess what in your solution is patentable, what should be registered as a design and what is better kept secret, and will tell you what has to happen before your first public presentation. A coordinator calls back within 15 minutes.