Most of the new patents registered in Israel are new patents granted to foreign companies and inventors. There are many reasons why that is true and why Israel is considered valued and important in the field of the development of new patents and inventions.
Because of industrial and commercial competition, companies around the world must protect their intellectual copyright in different target countries. Patent Law protects the holders of new patents against breach of their rights by preventing sale, manufacture, development, etc.
Manufacturers of pharmaceuticals for example, try to prevent their competitors from developing generic drugs during the period in which their new patents are still valid, by registering their patents in important target countries and that includes Israel.
For example: When an American patent lawyer wants to register a patent in Israel, that lawyer cannot apply directly to the Israeli Patent Office and so registration will be executed by an Israeli colleague. The same is true when an Israeli patent lawyer files a new patent in the USA or any other country. The Israeli lawyer must seek the help of a colleague with a local license to practice, who will deal with the filing of the request for patent.
In every country where an application is made for a new patent, the local application fees must be paid. After a period of time, the application is examined and if found worthy of patent, the inventor is granted a new patent by that country.
Every few years, the validity of a patent must be renewed and it is important that inventors and patent holders record and remember the renewal dates and pay the renewal fee on time.
Inventors and patent holders represented by patent lawyers receive notice of the renewal date in each different country. In Israel for example, after a new patent is filed, it is published in the Patent Journal. The initial publication states the name of the inventor, the name of the invention and the date of filing, but does not include any of the details, descriptions, drawings or claims made in the application for patent.
That information is published in the Israeli Patent Journal only after the patent has been examined.
A patent is valid for a period of 20 years, on condition that the patent holder pays the renewal fees at the times determined in Law. After 20 years, the patent is no longer valid.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, a large proportion of the filed patents were in the field of mechanics. At the time, a wide range of mechanical tools and instruments were under development, such as various shaving methods, a machine to sharpen shaving razors, the typewriter, mechanical calculators, cameras and more…
Today, most new patents are in the fields of communications, biotechnology, electronics etc. and very few patents refer to anything purely mechanical.