Hey,

Is anyone familiar patent law here is Switzerland, and how similar it is to US patent law?

Perhaps someone knows a link (suitable for the layman)

thx, LD

Sorry, I can't help you- but I would suggest moving this thread away from Permits and Visa's.

OK, THANKS... I think they took care of it for me...hope I don't lose my class 2 status because of that error

The law and related application ordinance .

US patent law is totally different to any other country in the world. They have very strict rules and procedures (partly to do with the sheer size of the place and also the different attitude to the global value of patents and intellectual property along with many other factors). Switzerland tends to follow the European Patent office guidelines but obviously there are always exceptions to the case. Do you have a specific question you need answering as I am happy to help as I work for a Patent department in Basel.

Here's a good link to European Patent Law:

http://www.epo.org/patents/One-Stop-Page.html

Spot on. The US patent law arises from the odd confluence of English-type common law (which has a totally different way of legal interpretation from Continental jurisprudence) and the US Constitution. For example, in the USA, unique in the world, a patent is awarded to the first to invent, not, as everywhere else, the first to file. This introduces a horrendously complex factor into the whole business. Then there's the grace period - in the USA, you can publish your invention in any way (print, oral disclosure, use) and still patent it, provided you file within one year of this first use. However, most of the rest of the world has "absolute novelty", and prior publication in any way wrecks your chances of a patent application.

The USA has made (grudgingly) some changes to its law, to make it a bit more like everyone else's, but is digging in its heels on first-to-file. If the rest of the world accepts a universal grace period, the US will begin to start to commence to think about first-to-file.

Swiss patent law has one oddity - patents are published only on grant, unlike everywhere else (including the USA, heaven help us), where they're published 18 months after first application. This will change.

Also, there is a relatively new service in the Bern office where you can sit with an examiner who will help you search the databases to see if there is something similar to your idea. I have not done this myself (yet) but a couple of people I know have and they felt it was very useful. From memory, you can book a half or full day. I think the full day is something like CHF 300. You need to prepare you file so they understand a bit about the idea. It will help a lot with the search.

There are also some filing strategies that allow you to prove the filing date (first to file) and allow you some time to think about the cost/effort of really filing the patent (which can be very costly). The other poster who mentioned that he/she works in Basel might be able to help with "inside scoop" on how to play the game. If not, I think I have a PDF file from a presentation that explains this. I am not home now so I can't see if I got a copy of the presentation on my computer.

I would like to reinforce the previous poster's comment about the major difference in USA vs other countries. If you talk about the idea. write about it, present it to a potential customer etc. you will be toast for a non USA patent.

Good luck in any event.

If you have to present to a customer prior to patent filing (not ideal, but it happens sometimes), get the customer's signature on a confidential disclosure agreement before saying a word. Under European patent law, certain disclosures (e.g., to customers) are regarded as confidential by nature, but always best to get it in writing.