ITAINNOVA, one of the partners of RECORD project, organized an online seminar in which experts in innovation protection presented basic concepts related to the patent system, as a powerful source of information and as a mechanism to prevent competitors from imitating.
The webminar was one of the actions included in the Action Plan of the Region of Aragón.
One of the keynote speakers, Mari Carmen Valiente, expert in management or IPRs and exploitation of innovations, said that "We should make sure that we do not infringe third party rights, such as trademarks, designs or patents, before bringing our innovations to the market. Even if we have not consciously imitated anyone, it is possible that others may have developed a product similar to ours before us, and therefore prevent us from bringing it to market, and we may be sued and forced to compensate for damages."
In her speech she also pointed out that "a patent is a contract between the State and the inventor, whereby the State grants the inventor the right for a limited period of time to prevent any third party from commercially exploiting the object of the patent without his consent, in exchange for the inventor consenting to the disclosure of the content of his invention and paying a fee. All this with the aim of contributing to innovation and technological development".
Jorge Riobo, expert in Competitive Surveillance added that, "A patent is more than a technical document. Whether we do a micro analysis of a patent or a macro analysis of a set of patents, known as patentometrics, the valuable information we can obtain is key to analyse the level of competition within an industry and being able to develop a business strategy".
He stressed that "companies are beginning to understand the potential of Competitive Intelligence in the technological field. Patents provide them with reliable and valuable information to minimise risks when making strategic decisions for organisations".
The conference was funded by the operation "Valorisation of Results" in the framework of the European Regional Development Fund Operational Programme Aragon 2014-2020.
