How to secure an invention online with Copyright.eu:
- A certificate of anteriority, with an optionally authenticated deed by a Bailiff, which proves that you possessed the invention at a certain date.
- Allowing you to benefit from the right of prior personal possession.
Our certificates can indeed allow you to benefit from the right of prior personal possession (L.613-7 of the French Intellectual Property Code). Consult this page to find out more: Prior personal possession.
Some essential points: #
Proof of anteriority does not give an exclusive right to an invention, as would be the case with a patent. However, it does allow:
1°) to have a right to continue to personally exploit the invention should another person subsequently file the same invention under a patent (cf. right of prior personal possession)
2°) to be able to communicate serenely with potential economic partners,banks, and investors, under the seal of secrecy while indicating to them the existence of your anteriority certificate (stealing such invention in this context could constitute unfair competition/parasitism, which could be proven, and a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) should always be signed.
3°) provided that the invention is not disclosed to the public (an essential criterion of patentability), the invention can later be registered as a patent when it is successful/conclusive.
On this last point (3°), this strategy is commonly used by Copyright.eu clients.
Inventors obtain their proof of anteriority from Copyright.eu while keeping their prototype confidential, intending to patent the finished invention a few months later. Of course, the downside is that the product cannot be commercialised immediately. Therefore, if there is an urgent need to commercialise, or when the invention does not meet the strict criteria for patentability, the alternative strategy is to opt not to file a patent at all, and to gain a significant competitive advantage over your competitors (branding, network, etc).
In this context, proof of anteriority also allows you to share your prototype more confidently with economic partners since theft in this contractual context (by a producer, a partner, etc.) could be considered as unfair competition through parasitism.
In conclusion #
The Copyright.eu service for documenting the anteriority of an invention is the ideal starting point in several situations, whether at the early stages of prototyping to share it confidently with business partners, or to ensure that you benefit from the right of prior personal possession, while later registering the invention as a patent.
