Are all inventions worth patenting?
An invention may be useful, novel, and non-obvious and still not repay the expense of filing and prosecuting the patent application to the point of issuance or defending it once issued. Thus, before CSURF decides to proceed with seeking patent protection, consideration is given to any patent/licensing obligations due the sponsors of the research, the commercial utility of the invention, its competitive superiority, the necessity for extensive development work, and the potential to find a company willing to pay for a license to the invention. As the costs incurred in filing, prosecuting and defending patents are significant, the decision to proceed with patent/licensing must be deliberate and financially justified.
