Table of Contents
Are you a company, university, scientific research institute or citizen looking to safeguard your invention and leverage your intellectual property?
Have you just developed a new product or process with patentable elements and need guidance on how to proceed?
You will find the answers to these questions in the User Guide for the Belgian System of Patents and Supplementary Protection Certificates.
Why This Guide?
Intellectual property rights are a valuable asset for companies. A study commissioned by the Federal Public Service Economy and the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property shows that, on average, companies with intellectual property rights have higher employment growth and productivity. This is particularly true for companies with patents.
In order to assist companies in leveraging this tool, the FPS Economy has developed a User Guide for the Belgian System of Patents and Supplementary Protection Certificates. This guide provides applicants and their representatives (patent agents and lawyers) with an overview of the legal, regulatory and practical aspects of the procedures at the Belgian Intellectual Property Office regarding:
- application,
- publication,
- grant,
- maintenance of patents and supplementary protection certificates in Belgium.
It contains a toolbox with an overview of the procedure for granting a Belgian patent, as well as a series of practical checklists for preparing and filing a Belgian patent application and for drafting requests for improvement, amendment or invalidity.
The guide aims to clarify the procedures and save much time and effort in carrying them out, both for applicants and for Office staff.
The guide is available in Dutch and French. It will be regularly updated in the light of developments in applicable law and lessons learned from making it available to users of the Belgian intellectual property system.
Main Themes
The guide covers the following topics:
- Intellectual property rights, patents and supplementary protection certificates
- Proceedings on patents and supplementary protection certificates at the Belgian Intellectual Property Office
- Practical aspects of procedures at the Belgian Intellectual Property Office
- Professional assistance & services and products in terms of patent documentation and information
- Online services from the Benelux Patent Platform (BPP)
