A patent is a virtue: brand protection24 September 2012 Patents
are valuable assets that increase the rewards for innovative
companies. However, patent disputes can be time-consuming and
extremely expensive. Dr Ian Lambert of Wynne-Jones IP reveals
the potential consequences of poor patent protection and how to
avoid the common pitfalls. Everyone knows something about
patents, yet they remain widely misunderstood, and have, over
the years, attracted their fair share of myths. It is not, for
example, possible to get around a patent simply by making a
small change to a minor feature - not unless the patent has been
written very badly indeed. In fact, patents are incredibly
important commercial tools for technologically innovative
entities such as companies and universities, and nowhere is this
more true than in the field of medical devices. This article
sets out the importance of patents and their relevance to
medical devices. What is a patent? Patents reside in an area of
law known as intellectual property (IP