Legal Status Analysis
This kind of analysis verifies the actual legal status of an intellectual property (IP) right, focusing on key aspects such as its timline, including dates of filing and priority, examination, granting, rejection procedures of a patent and of its family.
As an example, this analysis helps determine:
- Validity of the IP right: existence in life, lapse, rejection or abandonment, payment of the relevant fees in the countries where it has been filed;
- Priority: date and place of first filing;
- Patent family: information on filings, unified procedures, examinations, and validations in different countries or regions;
- Patent office evaluations: examiners’ comments and considerations as written in their search reports and written opinions;
- Oppositions received: any formal objections raised against the patent or the patent application;
- Changes in ownership: assignments or updates in patent ownership.
What Will a Researcher Gain from a Legal Status Analysis?
Information on legal status is crucial for technology transfer activities, as it determines whether a technology is still protected and where, or whether it will soon enter the public domain. At the end of the analysis, researchers will receive a summary report with all available information from national or regional patent offices.
