Japanese Patent Attorney Fumimaru Yuguchi Shounan-lab.

A strong patent cannot be obtained due to the extension of trend technologies

"I want to patent a smartphone app."

In many cases, we often cannot give a very good answer. It is very difficult to obtain a patent for trendy technologies for the following reasons.

• Originators are building a strong patent portfolio
• Peripheral patents are scattered like mushrooms shoots up after a rain
• Examination of inventions will be strict after the market is created (competition has occurred)

If you want to get a strong patent and monopolize the market, you need to anticipate trends beyond (or even beyond) the current trends in technology. By the way, it is said that the prototype of the iPad was already completed in 2002. It was eight years before it was released.