Executive summary
A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that offers a new technological solution. To receive a patent, technical information regarding the invention must be publicly disclosed in the patent application.
The basic principle of a patent system is to create an incentive to improve and further develop technologies for the benefit of the general public. This goal is achieved through a balance of two opposing forces, the monopoly and the design-around.
The first force is the exclusivity given the ingenious inventor. An inventor who has made a fundamental and important invention should be remunerated accordingly, and so get a limited-time monopoly.
In practice, many inventions are not licensed, but the second force of the patent system intervenes here in order to not infringe existing patents. The second force of the patent system, the design around, stimulates those who have not yet made their own invention on a given technical problem to become creative and to design around the existing patent which can result in a new invention and gives another a monopoly.
