If you have developed a unique, industrially applicable technical solution, you are entitled to obtain a patent for an invention. In addition to moral satisfaction from the work done, the right holder of the invention is given the right to derive various forms of income from its use.
As a rule, independent implementation and practical use of the invention is associated with significant costs, which is unaffordable for individuals and small companies. A legal way out of the situation is to sell patents for an invention, in which exclusive rights are transferred to a third party for a fee.
Legal basis for the sale of a patent
The opportunity to sell a patent exists only after the official registration of the invention with Rospatent. To do this, you need to take into account the following rules:
- a patent for an invention is issued on the basis of an application from the author or customer of the specified object of intellectual activity;
- during the examination on the merits of the application, the presence of signs of patentability is established – novelty (uniqueness), industrial applicability, as well as inventive step;
- After a positive decision on the application is made, information about the authorship of the invention is entered in the federal register, and the copyright holder receives a patent.
The industrial applicability of a unique invention can be realized by the rightholder in any field of activity, however, in practice, the transfer of patent rights to third parties is widespread. So, this is how to make money with patents. Now this is a very popular destination. You can invent something and make money from it.
The Civil Code allows the following options for the disposal of patent rights:
- sale of an invention, i.e. transfer of exclusive rights to another person for a fee. In this case, the original author of the invention completely loses the rights to it and will not be able to make claims for the use of the patent;
- transfer of rights under a license agreement – a certain circle of persons will be able to use the invention on a reimbursable or gratuitous basis. In case of violation of the terms of the contract, as well as when using someone else’s invention without the permission of the patent holder, civil, administrative or criminal liability will ensue;
- registration of an open license – the patent holder can at any time establish an open use mode for any interested person, and the terms of use will be determined by the content of the license.
You can sell a patent under a sale and purchase agreement. Information about the transfer of rights to another person must be registered with the Rospatent service.
The procedure for the sale of a patent
To sell the rights to your invention, you can use the following options:
- if the invention has one author, even before obtaining a patent, you can submit a public offer for the sale of rights with the first interested person or enterprise – in this case, immediately after the grant of the patent, an alienation agreement is concluded with the specified subject;
- having received a patent, you can independently start looking for a buyer who is interested in the invented technical solution;
- you can use the services of patent brokers – these professional specialists have the authority to represent interests at any stage of registration or disposal of patent rights.
How exactly to sell the rights to his invention is up to the author himself. The conditions for the transfer of exclusive rights will be determined by the parties independently, including remuneration to the author.
If you yourself plan to transfer rights under the agreement, you can use the following directions for finding a buyer:
- registration on specialized Internet resources that allow you to place a commercial offer or select an application of interest from a potential buyer;
- creating your own website, blog or page on social networks to advertise one or more of your own inventions – in this case, you will be able to tell as much as possible about the advantages of the practical application of the new invention;
- use of printed publications designed to review innovations in the field of science, technology, etc.
With all its advantages, this method has a key disadvantage – millions of offers to sell an invention can be found on the intellectual property market. The chance that it is your invention that will interest the buyer is rather small, because the possibilities of self-advertising or “promotion” of the offer are significantly limited. The best option is to find a buyer and conclude an agreement for the transfer of rights through a patent broker. In this case, the copyright holder receives the following benefits:
- the narrow specialization of patent brokers allows you to count on a thorough knowledge of all the nuances of selling a patent – not only open sources of supply and demand are used, but also personal or private databases;
- with the help of patent brokers, it is possible to correctly determine the value of the transferred intellectual property object – the price determination will be carried out taking into account real market prices, the selected scope of application of inventions, etc.;
- the execution of the sales contract and its registration with the Rospatent service will take place in full compliance with the legislative norms.
