Do you have an invention that could develop the country or bring about a leap in a certain specialisation? Are you scared that it could be stolen or that you cannot market it? “Whatever your age, you can patent your invention if it meets three main criteria,” Adel Ewida, president of the Egyptian Patent Office at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT), said. Any invention must be original (locally and internationally speaking), industrially applicable (theories are not patentable), and should include an innovation that has not been seen before by those specialising in the same field. When an inventor submits an invention for patenting, it receives protection that lasts until the invention is rejected or granted protection by the ARST. If it is successfully patented, the protection generally lasts for 20 years. The time it takes to receive a patent in Egypt and internationally is a minimum of three to four years. This long period is necessary to ensure the invention's originality. Submitting and receiving a patent means that the owner of it only receives local protection, however. Ewida explains that according to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property there is a 12-month grace period to apply in another country. However, inventors can make an international request under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Applying for an international patent under the PCT in Egypt means applying to the other 180 member countries of the treaty as well. The applicant also receives a 30-month grace period to apply in other countries. Egypt became a member of the PCT in 2003 and is currently one of 13 countries out of 148 that have international searching and examination authority because they meet the criteria set by the PCT. One of the problems that have affected the Egyptian Patent Office has been its restricted budget, and Ewida gives a simple example. While the Office has a LE10 million computer, the necessary air-conditioning to protect this was not installed, and so it cannot be used for fears that excess heat will ruin the computer and its data. “The information is more expensive than the computer itself,” he explained. Aside from these problems, there is another role that starts after filing a patent, and this is carried out by the Creativity and Invention Development Authority. Asmaa Mustafa, the acting president, told Al-Ahram Weekly that it undertook the necessary marketing and innovation development and the authority acted to help develop innovations for commercial and other purposes. Inventors are able to develop prototypes in cooperation with investors, eventually seeing their inventions make their way into production. One way in which this can happen is through cooperation with the non-profit Misr Al-Kheir Foundation and the ASRT through the latter's holulna bio'olna (our solutions from our minds) competition, which is specifically targeted at innovators and entrepreneurs. Winners of the competition receive grants of LE25,000 to help them develop their inventions, a technical and economic committee having checked their inventions for feasibility. Mustafa said that the economic committee was particularly interested in the projected cost price of the invention, since if its benefits did not outweigh its costs it could fail the competition's criteria. In order to market their inventions, some inventors participate in international and local exhibitions where they can also win awards. Some may sell the know-how of the invention rather than the invention itself. They may also market it to specific target areas, sending out letters to sectors that could benefit from the invention. “When a sector or other organisation agrees to look at an invention we pay them a visit and the inventor explains the invention in practical terms,” Mustafa said. In return for this service, the authority receives 10 per cent of the profits of the commercialisation of the invention, this being directed to the Science and Technology Development Fund. Mustafa said that her organisation's budget was LE5 million, half of it granted by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), though she said there should also be other funding sources. According to Mohamed Ragheb, president of the scientific section at the ministry of scientific research, Egypt's public scientific research budget is around LE1 billion and there are 13 institutes and centres associated with the ministry itself. Each of these is authorised to control its own budget depending on its needs during the fiscal year. According to the Patent Office itself, some 604 Egyptians applied for patents in 2010, 38 of which were granted. This figure rose to 682 patents applied for in 2012, with 94 being granted. As far as patents by foreigners are concerned, 1,626 of these were applied for in 2010 and 283 were issued. In 2012, this figure had declined to 1,481 being applied for but 537 were granted. If you have an invention that you think deserves patent protection, make sure you fulfil the three main criteria for receiving any patent and then head to the Egyptian Patent Office on 101 Kasr Al-Aini Street, the first floor of the Academy for Scientific Research and Technology (http://www.egypo.gov.eg/Default.aspx). If you have already applied or received a patent and want to commercialise an invention as a product, go to the Innovation and Development Section located on the third floor in the same building and the holulna bio'olna initiative. (http://www.misrelkheir.com/Project_en.aspx?projectId=31)
