How to protect the results of your R&D&I project?
Protecting the results of R&D&I projects is not only important for promoting innovation but also crucial for maximizing companies’ competitiveness. However, this process is often not straightforward, which is why knowing the available options and procedures, as well as collaborating with specialized professionals in this field, are some of the keys to ensuring success in protecting the results derived from your innovative activity.
According to data from the 2023 COTEC Report, developed in collaboration with the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (IVIE), although Spain has led the growth of investment in intangible assets among the main European countries since 1995, we still lag significantly behind our neighboring countries.
Intangible assets (know-how, patents, brand image, and in general, all those that are not material) are characteristic of the knowledge economy, and investing in them contributes to increasing productivity and quality of life. Furthermore, these are investments particularly resilient to economic cycle variations. By type of intangible assets, Spain stands out in design and software while ranking last in R&D and organizational structure.
In this regard, the report reminds us that many of these assets are still not adequately accounted for and warns that if all intangible assets analyzed were properly accounted for, Spain’s annual investment figures would be 30% higher, and the country’s GDP would be 4.5% higher.
Innovation is a significant stimulus for the development of new knowledge and fosters the emergence of business models based on the use of collectively acquired knowledge.
Organizations value their trade secrets as much as industrial and intellectual property rights and use confidentiality as a management tool for business competitiveness, public-private knowledge transfer, and research innovation. Thus, protecting the results of R&D&I projects is not only important for promoting innovation but also crucial for maximizing competitiveness, attracting investments, recovering costs, and protecting against unauthorized copying.
However, innovative entities are increasingly exposed to unfair practices that aim to misappropriate trade secrets, such as theft, unauthorized copying, economic espionage, or breach of confidentiality requirements. Globalization, increased outsourcing, longer supply chains, and greater use of information and communication technologies all contribute to increasing the risk of these practices.
Whether you’re an independent professional, a company, or a research organization, you’ve probably wondered how to make the most of the results of your R&D&I investments.
Reaching solid technological developments that are industrially applicable is not an easy task, and the legal protection of these R&D&I results is fundamental to prevent unauthorized copying and imitation by competitors. This is especially important in industries where innovation is key to success and where rapid imitation could significantly undermine the competitive advantage gained through research.
When and how to protect?
In Spain, there are several tools and mechanisms available to protect the results of an R&D&I project, primarily encompassing:
- Industrial property: It is the exclusive right held by an individual or legal entity over an invention, a distinctive sign, or an industrial design. In Spain, industrial property rights include industrial designs, trademarks, trade names, patents, utility models, and semiconductor product topographies, among others.
- Intellectual property: Legal rights that protect creations of artistic, literary, scientific, technical, or industrial nature. Intellectual property grants creators and owners of these works exclusive rights over their use and distribution.
- Trade secret: It protects confidential information and technical knowledge that give a competitive advantage to a company. Trade secrets may include formulas, processes, methods, business data, and other confidential information not publicly known and kept secret.
Focusing on patents and utility models, they constitute the most common protection route in Spain and are titles granted by the State that give their holder the right to temporarily prevent others from manufacturing, selling, or commercially using the protected invention. They thus protect inventions that may refer to a new process, a new device, a new product, or an improvement or enhancement thereof susceptible to reproduction and repetition for industrial purposes.
It is advisable to initiate the patenting process derived from an innovation project as soon as possible, once the technical feasibility of the invention has been evaluated and its potential patentability determined, without waiting to conclude the research.
Any form of public disclosure (scientific article, thesis reading, bachelor’s or master’s thesis, conference, public talk, media, web publication, etc.) should be avoided before filing the patent application. It is important to maintain the “novelty” of the invention before its application. Any prior disclosure would break the novelty and make obtaining the patent impossible.
Requirements for a result to be patentable
The granting of a patent is linked to the fulfillment of a series of requirements required by law. However, if in doubt, a prior consultation can also be made to the OEPM Information Office to find out if an invention is the subject of a patent or utility model.
- Novelty: The novelty requirement dictates that the invention is not comprised within the prior art. This includes everything made available to the public by any means and anywhere in the world before the filing date of the application.
- Inventive step: An invention involves an inventive step if it is not obvious to a person skilled in the art. That is, activity that does not result from the prior art in an obvious manner to a skilled person.
- Industrial application: It means that the subject matter of the invention can be manufactured or used in some kind of industry, including agriculture.
The protection process
The process of protecting the results of an R&D&I project can be a complex and time-consuming procedure. In the case of filing a patent application and its granting, it usually takes between 26 and 36 months. Universities and technological SMEs benefit from a 50% discount on OEPM fees, which greatly facilitates their filing.
In broad terms, the procedure for filing a patent usually includes the following steps:
- Documenting all developments obtained during the project.
- Identifying the knowledge and intangible assets generated in the project.
- Selecting the most suitable protection method.
- Executing the chosen protection strategy.
- Valuing the intangible asset generated, either through its use in the company or through its commercialization through licensing or assignment.
The period of validity is 20 years from the date of its filing for patents and 10 years for utility models. Once the duration time has elapsed, the invention is in the public domain, and anyone can use it freely.
Professional support
It is important to consider that the patenting process can be complex and requires specialized knowledge in intellectual property. It is, therefore, advisable to seek the advice of a patent agent or a professional specialized in the area to ensure adequate protection of the invention.
For this reason, if you want to successfully implement your technology protection strategy, our experts are at your disposal to advise you on the identification, protection, and valorization of research results.
