Among the numerous peculiarities of the patent system, the Principle of Territoriality stands out.
In general, this Principle establishes that a patent generates, for its holder, “patent protection effects”, in other words, exclusive privileges or temporary rights to exclude third parties over certain technology, only in territories where the patent application was filed and subsequently the patent was granted.
The ramifications of this Principle are vast, and one of the most interesting is the fact that the same technology can be under the “patent protection effects” in certain territories and, simultaneously, such technology can be considered as belonging to the Public Domain in several other territories (legal situation in which an inventor does not hold exclusive rights over his creation and, therefore, his technology can be reproduced and exploited by any interested party without the need for any type of authorization).
The Principle of Territoriality, therefore, brings with it the essence of the patent system, that is, the exclusive privilege as opposed to the Public Domain. Read more