Patenting is an expensive process, and one fraught with risks. Explain Essay

Patenting is an expensive process, and one fraught with risks. Explain these risks, and also why people continue to take out patents - Essay Example (Gibbs, 2003) Patents are necessarily applied to new and novel devices and methodologies, inventions which are unique and never thought out in the past and which could be used for beneficial purposes, both from the consumer perspective as well as industrial basis. Patenting is not easy to achieve. It has to be registered at the relevant patent office and the application process is a stringent one to start with. The patent application contains different claims which are in line with the device or methodology and these claims outline the exact sentences which are specific personifications related with the invention. (Mcleod, 2001) The relevant patent laws are checked upon once the patenting application has gone through. At times, there are objections which are raised with the patenting process and told to the authority who wants to have the patenting process activated in the first place. Once the patent has been granted to this individual, he has the right to collect his renewal fees from a number of different countries at the end of each year. This makes sure that the patent is in effect for a long period of time. The risks associated with patents are that they can be easily copied and infringed upon by just about anyone related with the trade, business or industry. (Link, 2003) Thus there are a number of people who oppose the general idea of having patents in the first place. When someone wants to patent there is always this danger of losing one’s invention and becoming a counterfeit in a short period of time. There is the aspect of imitation and copying and then the legal restrictions are not that strong to stop everyone who is bent upon destroying the exclusivity of the new device or methodology which has been patented by the relevant authority. Then there is the monopoly which can be governed by the party who patents this right on his device or methodology that he can wrongfully ask the competitors to be cut out from gaining