A patent is basically a deal between an inventor and the state in which the inventor is given a short-term monopoly in return for allowing the invention to be made public to aid in the advancement of the general public’s knowledge.

A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a patentee (the inventor or assignee) for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which is new, inventive, and useful or industrially applicable. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent)

How does one obtain a patent?

To obtain a patent, one must file a written application for the countries in which the said patent would be in action. The application must contain details of the invention along with other required forms. The inventor need not have his or her invention put into practice or use in order to obtain a patent. If a patent is granted, the owner must typically pay a renewal fee, generally once a year, to maintain the validity of the patent.

Why is a patent valuable?

A patent is valuable as it may be bought or sold, mortgaged or licensed to others. A patent also protects the business of the owner for a certain period of time, and also brings value to others by allowing the public to learn from the information inherent in a patent.

Rights conferred by a patent

The proprietor of the Patent shall have the right to prevent third parties from performing without his authorisation:
- the making of a product or the use of a process, which is the subject-matter of the patent;
- the offering on the market of a product incorporating the subject-matter of a patent; and
- the inducing of third parties to perform any of these acts.

A patent application, which has been published shall provisionally confer upon the applicant the same rights as mentioned above.

Assignment of Patents

Any change in the ownership of a patent application or a patent shall be registered. The new proprietor of the application or patent shall be entitled to institute any legal proceedings concerning the patent only if he has been recorded in the patent register as the new proprietor.

How are patents enforced?

When a patent is infringed upon—meaning that, for example, another party violated the exclusivity of the patent and developed the same drug—the inventor will typically seek monetary compensation through a civil lawsuit and an injunction prohibiting the defendant from future infringement. In return, the accused may seek to have the patent declared invalid. Often, such disputes are resolved or avoided by entering into licensing or cross-licensing agreements, allowing each party to properly gain access to the other party’s patents.

Patents are generally territorial – a UK patent will only give you exclusive rights in the UK and a small number of other countries (see below). However, those rights do include importing a patented invention into the UK, so the importation of a patented product, or the direct product of a patented process, without the patentee's permission would infringe the patent, even if the product is made abroad in a country where there is no patent. It follows that if your market is confined to the UK, with no prospect of expansion overseas through sales or franchising, then all you need to protect your business is a UK patent. You would have to accept though that third parties might be free to exploit your invention abroad, provided they or their distributors or customers do not import it into the UK.