Anne Ryan & Co. prepares, files and prosecutes patent applications and acts before the Irish Patents Office, the European Patent Office (EPO) and under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

IRISH PATENTS AND PATENT APPLICATIONS:
Two types of patent protection exist in Ireland, namely short-term and full-term patents. A short-term patent is usually granted more quickly than a full-term patent and provides protection for 10 years from the date of filing. A short-term patent is similar to a utility model in other jurisdictions. A full-term patent generally takes at least 4 years to proceed to grant and provides protection for 20 years from the date of filing.

In order to obtain grant of a patent, an application must first be made to the Patents Office. The application includes specified information in relation to the inventor and the applicant, and in certain cases, to legal contracts between the inventor and applicant (where the inventor does not apply himself/herself), and it also contains a specification and drawings (if required) defining the invention. The specification describes the invention in a particular format which typically and ideally includes a set of "claims", which are used to define, for legal purposes, exactly what is and what is not protected under the patent.

It is necessary to provide an "enabling disclosure" of your invention, i.e. a description of at least one working example of the invention, which must be sufficiently clear and complete such that a skilled worker in the field in question can repeat the instructions given to carry out the invention, on the basis only of his or her general knowledge and the information given in the specification.

Renewal fees are due for both patents and patent applications in respect of the third and subsequent years.

ASSIGNMENTS, CHANGES OF NAME, LICENCES, MERGERS & OTHER TRANSACTIONS:

ASSIGNMENT:
For recordal of an assignment we require a certified copy of the Deed of Assignment or other instrument of transfer signed by all parties thereto. We can attend to the certification of the document when taking the action to record the assignment. No notarization or other legalization is required.

An Authorisation of Patent Agent form signed by or on behalf of the Assignee is also required and the Patents Office will not record the assignment until the Authorisation is filed. General and specific Authorisations are available on this website under "Forms".

If the assignment took place prior to April 1, 2004, the issue of stamp duty will arise and you should contact us in this regard.

CHANGE OF NAME:
For recordal of a change of name, we require a copy of an extract from a Commercial Register, Register of Companies or other authority evidencing the change.

MERGER:
For recordal of a merger we require a certified copy of the Deed of Merger or other instrument evidencing the merger. We can attend to the certification of the document when taking the action to record the merger. No notarization or other legalization is required.

LICENCE:
For recordal of a licence we require a certified copy of the Licence Agreement. We can attend to the certification of the document when taking the action to record the licence. No notarization or other legalization is required.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS:
No documentation evidencing the change of address is required. However, if a change of address has been recorded on the Register of European Patents and the change of address relates to the Irish part of a European Patent, we routinely file a copy of the EPO Form 2544 evidencing the change if we have it to hand.

CHANGE OF LEGAL STATUS:
An Authorisation of Patent Agent form signed by or on behalf of the new legal entity is required. This can be found on our forms page.

A change of name, address or legal status sought in connection with a pending application is viewed as an amendment of the application by the Patents Office.

Please contact us should require information in relation to any of the above before the EPO or any country not covered by a European patent application.

SUPPLEMENTARY PROTECTION CERTIFICATES:
It may be possible to apply for a supplementary protection certificate in respect of a product, such as a pharmaceutical product or agrichemical, covered by a patent, and details of this procedure will be supplied on request.

LANGUAGES:
The language used by the Irish Patents Office is English. Please note in the case where a document in a language other than English is to be filed at the Irish Patents Office a verified English translation is required.

All that is required is a simple translator's certificate, and no notarisation or other legalisation is required.

EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATIONS:
A European patent application can currently cover over 30 Contracting States, and can be extended to Extension States.

We do not require an Authorisation to act before the EPO.

Renewal fees are due for both patents and patent applications in respect of the third and subsequent years.

INTERNATIONAL PATENT APPLICATIONS:
An International application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty covers 137 countries (as of May 2007) and can be filed by us at the Irish Patents Office, the EPO or at the International Bureau of WIPO in Geneva.