The rights of a patent owner

Once a patent is granted, it gives the patent owner the following rights.

The monopoly (exclusive) right to commercially exploit the invention.

This allows the patent owner to either sell or license (give permission for) use of the invention. The owner is able to charge a fee to others for the permission to use the invention.

The owner may sell physical embodiments of the invention as a product; for example, the invention may be a machine, and the patent owner will therefore be able to produce and sell copies of the machine during the patent term. In this situation, the sale of the product will normally come with a licence to use the invention in the way described in the patent. Alternatively, the patent owner may completely transfer their patent rights to another, which is called an ‘assignment’. For example, an individual inventor may transfer their patent rights to a corporation in exchange for a significant payment.

• In the case of an assignment, the rights transfer to the purchaser/new owner, and the inventor is not left with any residual rights.
• In the case of a licence, the invention can be used for the purpose for which the licence is granted, while ownership continues to remain with the inventor.

The right to stop unauthorized use of the invention, product or process in Australia

The patent owner has the sole right, for the term of the patent, to decide who can or cannot use their patented invention. The owner has a legal right to stop any unauthorized use (known as “infringement”) and claim compensation where applicable.