Should we protect our technology & design in the US or in Europe?

質問

We are developing easy-to-use health monitoring devices that combine a first-ever range of different sensors with lightweight appealing design. We would like to protect both the technology that we have used in our prototype and the design, but we are not sure if we should pursue protection first in the US or EU. Financially speaking, both at the same time would be difficult. We are located in the EU, but our potential customers are both in the US and Europe. What would be our best strategy?

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回答: 3 public & 1 非公開

Steven weinrieb
弁理士

You obviously want protection where you are truly going to commercialize the devices - patents are territorial so a US patent will not cover you in Europe and a European patent will not cover you in the US - you said that potentially, both the US and Europe are potential markets, so you obviously have a difficult choice. One option may be to file a PCT application in Europe - either in the UK or at the IB - that way you do not have to actually pursue national stage applications either in the US or the UK for 30 months - this two and one half year time span may assist you in getting needed financing to help you then pursue patents in both the US or European venues or by that time, your real market potential assessment may be clearer whereby you can clearly choose to either pursue a US patent or a European patent if you still cannot financially handle filing patent applications in both venues.

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