Protecting Multiple Inventions - Drafting & Unity Strategies

Introduction

A single disclosure often gives rise to multiple patentable inventions. However, despite the breadth of an underlying innovation, each granted patent is confined to a single invention.

As a result, applicants frequently need to pursue multiple parallel patent applications to achieve appropriate scope of protection. This can significantly increase drafting and prosecution costs, particularly for startups, spin-outs and other technology-driven clients operating under budget constraints.

This webinar will examine practical approaches for advising clients on how to maximise patent protection while managing cost exposure. It considers how to draft and structure patent specifications to accommodate multiple inventions effectively and how to anticipate and respond to objections raised under the European Patent Office’s unity of invention requirements.

Register today to enhance your toolkit for delivering robust, cost-efficient patent filing strategies and strengthening protection for your clients’ innovations.

What You Will Learn

The webinar will cover the following:

• Drafting and filing:
• Strategies for drafting specifications that effectively capture multiple inventions
• How to use embodiments to support broader protection
• Approaches to claim drafting and structuring for multi-invention disclosures
• Selecting appropriate filing routes and prosecution strategies
• EPO unity objections:
• When and why the EPO raises lack of unity objections
• Common scenarios, including multiple independent claims and a posteriori lack of unity
• Practical strategies for responding to unity objections during prosecution
• Key pitfalls and how to avoid them, with possible paths forward
• Approaches to reducing prosecution cost and duration
• Use of divisional applications as a strategic tool