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Patents are legal instruments intended to encourage innovation by providing a limited monopoly to the inventor (or their assignee) in return for the disclosure of the invention.[1][2] The underlying assumption is that innovation is encouraged because an inventor can secure exclusive rights and, therefore, a higher probability of financial rewards for their product in the marketplace or the opportunity to profit from licensing the rights to others. The publication of the invention is mandatory to get a patent. Keeping the same invention as a trade secret rather than disclosing it in a patent publication, for some inventions, could prove valuable well beyond the limited time of any patent term but at the risk of unpermitted disclosure or congenial invention by a third party.
- ^ "Our Business: An Introduction to the USPTO". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Archived from the original on 30 December 2011.
- ^ "Datasheet for the decision of 11 December 2018 (T 2707/16)" (PDF). Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office. reasons 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 January 2022.
The basic idea and core purpose of the patent system is to stimulate technological innovation by offering the opportunity to obtain exclusionary rights limited in time in return for public disclosure of inventions.