1) What exactly is a patent, what is the idea behind them and what is its primary purpose?
A patent is a contract between the state and the patent applicant where details are revealed of how a new invention works in return for protection.
Protection has to be requested in any foreign countries within 12 months of the initial “priority” filing, otherwise protection is limited to the home country. The fact that it has been patented in that country (or perhaps only revealed in say a trade show, or in a newspaper) means that it cannot be patented elsewhere, as it is already known. It is vital that the idea is kept secret except in confidential discussions until the priority filing has been made.
Each patent office decides whether or not to grant a patent. Most check to see if the idea is new, but some small countries simply register it if fees are paid. The patent specification for the grant contains a description of the invention plus (if relevant) drawings, circuit diagrams etc., enough for the person skilled in the art to understand how to reproduce it. There are also “claims” outlining the actual monopoly allowed.
Strictly speaking a patent does not give the applicant the right to use the invention, but rather to stop others to use it. This is because some inventions will only work if combined with a patented product. Suppose the pencil didn’t exist, and then A patents it. B then patents the idea of a pencil with an eraser on the end. B cannot manufacture it, as the pencil is already patented. Nor can A use the idea of the eraser at the end. What often happens is negotiations follow, so that A buys B out, or perhaps they agree that they will both manufacture pencils with erasers.
Patents last for a maximum of 20 years (there are exceptions for pharmaceuticals and plant protection products in the UK) provided that renewal fees are paid annually (countries vary in this). After that anyone can use it. They already were able to study the invention at 18 months from the priority date, when the details in the application are published on databases such as the free database at http://gb.espacenet.com/ . Some grants are also available on the Web (and may vary from the application, especially in the claims that were allowed).
2) How unique does a business idea/inventions have to be in order to gain this level of protection?
This is a hard question, as it is very subjective. What is new to one person is obvious and therefore not allowable to someone else. Only a small number of inventions are totally new, and most improve in some way an existing idea. It may be cheaper, or more effective, or simply a different way of doing something. It’s back to that person skilled in the art in the last question, who is an (imaginary !) engineer who knows everything in the specific trade, but has no inventive ability, is supposed to judge things. If something is new in that trade then that can be allowed. Hence something used in hairdressing that could be used in say shoemaking could be patented for that specific purpose.
Of course, everyone can argue about what that engineer would agree to. In cases where someone infringes a granted patent, it is normal to try to find any kind of “prior art” showing that the invention wasn’t really new in the first place as a defence.
3) What are the first steps for businesses looking to gain a patent?
A search to see if the idea has been done before is highly advisable. Some companies spend say £40,000 tooling up before thinking of spending a few hundred pounds checking if the invention is actually new.
Using a patent attorney to write the patent specification is also strongly recommended, as it is very easy to write a poor document for a new invention that does not give you much protection. The attorneys know all the tricks, and they also argue your case if objections are encountered from a patent office.
Some companies require finance and therefore need to approach banks or business angels, and this would affect their strategy. They might be open to being bought out for the patent rights, and some companies specialise in devising solutions to problems in specific industrial fields and offering to sell the rights to major companies.
A trade mark is often the main selling tool as it will be used in advertising and when people ask for the product, and should be decided on as part of the sales strategy.
4) Can the layman easily research and discover whether their idea is already protected?
It is effectively impossible to prove a negative. It is impossible to say “the invention is new”. It may be that the wrong words were used (“next to” rather than “adjacent”, “plastic” rather than “polypropylene”) by the searcher, or the database did not cover the country or technology. It is very easy in the English language to get what are called “false drops”. The word light can mean illumination, but it can also mean an absence of weight. It is particularly difficult to look for processes that work in an unusual order as you are simply searching for words, perhaps together with classifications, and not for activities in a specific order. There are 10,000 new inventions published weekly: that is a lot to work through.
There is no harm at all in “having a go” using free sources. This may show that the idea has been done before, or a forerunner may be found which your idea improves on. If the idea is not found, it is best to commission a search from a professional patent searcher. Tell them which were the closest patents you found. They are likely to use priced databases as well as free sources. Your search may also reveal companies working in the field, and you may want to “google” them to find more about them.
5) What types of things can be patented?