Innovation

Innovation is the introduction to the market of a new or substantially improved product, process, service or organisation. It differs from the invention, which is a technical solution to a technical problem, and from the discovery, which reveals what already existed. An invention becomes an innovation when it is implemented and disseminated. Intellectual property law does not have innovation as such for its object, but it protects its components.

The forms of innovation

First, product innovation, which concerns a new or improved good or service. Second, process innovation, which improves production or distribution methods. Third, organisational or marketing innovation, which modifies the practices of the company. This typology, drawn from the work of the OECD, is used by public policies supporting research. Only part of these innovations is technical and therefore capable of being patented.

The legal protection of innovation

A new technical innovation, involving an inventive step and susceptible of industrial application, may be the subject of a patent or a utility certificate. Information that is not patented, or not patentable, is protected under trade secrets, provided the company has taken reasonable protection measures. Software and creations of form fall under copyright and designs. The signs that identify the innovation on the market are protected by the trade mark. The applicable provisions appear in the French Intellectual Property Code, available on Légifrance.

Key points

In practice, the protection of an innovation is decided very early, before any disclosure, through an arbitration between patent, secrecy and publication. It continues through the contracts concluded with employees, research partners and subcontractors, then through the defence of the titles obtained. The firm assists innovative companies at every step, as presented on the page patent commercialisation.