Both papers and patents have in common that they both present new knowledge to the world.
Research is often published as a paper and also filed as a patent. However, a paper and a patent are different.
The following explanation assumes a paper in Science.
Papers and Patents have Different Goals.
Papers are intended to contribute to the world by presenting new findings.
Publication is the primary objective, and its purpose is essentially public benefit.
Of course, a paper also has a private interest, as publishing a paper is regarded as an accomplishment of the researcher.
A patent specification is written for the purpose of obtaining a patent (exclusive rights).
The rule is that if you want to obtain a patent, you must disclose your invention (research).
It can be said that in order to obtain a patent, we have no choice but to disclose our technology to the public.
Since monopoly is the primary objective, it is essentially private profit.
However, a patent application is also in the public interest because it makes the new technology known to the world.
The findings described in a paper are public property, but the technology described in a patent specification is private property, intellectual property.
So, a patent has the concept of "infringement," whereas a paper does not.
Papers and Patents have Different Evaluation Points.
In a paper, the emphasis is on how new it is compared to existing knowledge (common sense), or in other words, on originality (uniqueness).
In the case of patents, originality is also necessary, but more important is business potential.
In the world of patents, emphasis is placed on whether the technology can be used for business purposes.
Therefore, no matter how original the technology is, it is worthless if it is not likely to be profitable, to put it bluntly.
A patent is a property right, called intellectual property, which can be viewed as an investment product.
If the patented invention is promising in view of business, the commercial value of the patent will increase.
Business potential is not important in a paper.
Therefore, if the research is likely to have business potential as well as originality, you should consider not only publishing the paper but also filing a patent application.
Research with no apparent business potential, such as a paper on cosmology, does not fit in a patent.
In the past, when asked to evaluate a patent on a particular study, we gave it a low rating.
We explained to the researcher that we were not evaluating the value of the research (its thesis value), and that we could not give it a high rating as a patent unless it had business potential.
The reverse can also be true.
If the research has high business potential, it may be highly evaluated as a patent even if it is not highly evaluated as a paper.
This is because the evaluation points are different.
Patents are more practical compared to papers.
Patents Focus on Implementation.
A paper can be evaluated for a new discovery or a new theory, but a patent asks how it can be used.
For example, if you make a new medical discovery and can properly verify it, you can write a paper.
In the case of a patent, what the new discovery is useful for is the question, so it is necessary to describe how to configure a diagnostic device using the new discovery.
In the patent world, you must show industrial applicability, or in other words, implementation.
Papers are not as strict about implementation as patents, so others may not be able to get a detailed picture of how something works just by looking at the paper.
As for implementation, patents are more rigorous.
In some cases, implementation may not have been considered at the time of writing the paper.
In these cases, a patent attorney may assist in considering possible implementations.
Papers can be viewed as belonging to the world of science and patents as belonging to the world of engineering.
It can be said that engineering research is more suited to patents than to papers.
Writing Style is Different for Papers and Patents.
The scope of a patent, or in other words, its power as a monopoly, is determined by the claims.
The claims are the subject matter of the patent, and the patent specification describes how to realize the invention described in the claims.
A master-slave relationship exists: the patent specification is there to support the interpretation of the claims.
It is a characteristic of intellectual property that various disadvantages can easily occur depending on how it is written, such as making it difficult to obtain a patent, narrowing the scope of rights, or giving rivals unnecessary information.
Patents are not written for the purpose of firm disclosure. What is important for a patent is to consider how to define the scope of rights and how far the scope can be extended. Therefore, the same invention can result in very different patents, depending on the writer.