While the beauty industry traditionally sees less patent activity compared to technology and pharmaceuticals, it's no less important for brands to protect their innovations. Patents provide crucial legal protection, and recently brands like Lashify have made patent headlines while also bringing the issue to the forefront in the nearly $500 billion beauty industry.
BeautyMatter, an industry-based publication, chatted with Finnegan partner Beth Ferrill about the basics of the patents as well as the nuances of the process.
"A utility patent is going to be one of the most expensive forms of IP to get,” she said. “It's going to take longer to get and cost more money up front, but if you get it, it can be very beneficial."
Beth further noted, “From the perspective of a potential imitator, determine which features are most likely to be copied, then focus on how to legally protect these key differentiators. You want to focus on the one thing that is most recognizable.”
Another option for protecting innovations is to keep them as trade secrets. However, as Beth said to keep in mind that, “a trade secret is only as good as your ability to keep the secret.”
When filing for a patent, it is essential to act quickly due to the first-inventor-to-file system in the U.S. “There’s no time to waste,” Beth said. “I know there’s a lot of pressure on someone who’s starting a business, but if your product is popular, a bigger company will come along and see that you don’t have protection and decide to enter your market.”
Beth also highlighted the importance of searching for existing patents to ensure the idea is new. “Just because you think that something is new doesn't necessarily mean it's new,” she said. “It’s important to know what the Patent Office calls the prior art, or the inventions that came before.”
While obtaining a patent can be costly, it provides long-term protection and potential profits. “Getting a patent is a bit like an insurance policy,” Beth said. “In the event that your product is not only successful, but someone else chooses to copy it or make something like it, you’re protected.”
