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How To Register An Invention

In this article we will explore the often asked question of how to register an invention.

There are two different approaches that inventors can take to registering their invention.The first is to do it yourself; the second is to employ a professional patent attorney to do this on your behalf.

How To Register An Invention Yourself

If you are going to do your own patent there are a few simple steps to follow. Hire other people to do the small things that take expertise. You can probably fill out the basic provisional application paperwork yourself. There are basic directions at the USPTO website. In addition, the USPTO will put you in touch with staff that can give you basic, general advice that is not specific to your invention.

A first cut basic patent search: This you can do yourself

It is not recommended that inventors who do not have patent experience rely on their own patent searches because searches can be more difficult than people think. A “first cut” search may find a patent for what you “invented”, though, and can save you from paying a professional to find what you could find yourself.

There are several patent search databases available, including one at the USPTO website and one at the Google Patent website.

A Second Search By A Professional

If the inventor as patent searcher does not find the patent, or has difficulty in doing so, the next step is to hire a professional patent searcher or patent attorney to do a search for you. If the goal is to keep costs down and the invention is not overly complex, a patent searcher can look for the invention. A patent searcher or someone should also look for prior art, which includes any journal articles or related materials in the public domain that may not be patentable. If there is prior art on your invention even if there is no patent it is probably not patentable.

If the searcher does not find your invention, you can then go on to the next steps, which include writing the patent, producing drawings that show the patent, and filing the patent. If you are wanting to know how to register an invention quicker than this, unfortunately the process itself will be out of your control once you have made the application.

How To Register An Invention Using An Attorney

Complex Patents

If you have a complex patent you may want a patent attorney or patent agent to guide you through the entire process. They can fill out the paperwork to file with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Only a patent attorney can appear before the Patent Courts for many of the proceedings. Patent agents generally do not have experience with licensing, so if either is necessary, a patent attorney may be necessary. Patent agents can do all of the necessary work related to filing a patent unless the patent is challenged, which may make the case more complicated.

The paperwork should contain line by line descriptions of the invention that “teach” what the patent is. There should be somewhat similar patents available to learn some of the language use. The patent should also be supported by schematics, drawings of the invention that show it from different angles. The paperwork is probably the most difficult part of the patenting process and it is the point where many patents get derailed.

A Brief Note About The Patent Examination Process

Either you the inventor or the patent attorney or patent agent will go through the examination process where the patent is reviewed in detail. The USPTO will have contact with the individual handling the patent and amendments to the paperwork are often necessary. This usually takes many months up to a year or more depending on the type of patent and backlog at the USTPO.

For those wanting to know how to register an invention in the UK, Europe, Australia and in other places

The process discussed above will apply to most Western countries, except that each country will have their own independent patent office. Do a search online to find the patent office related to your country or the country where you are wanting to register the invention in.

January 16, 2013
Licensing Inventions The Right Way

Many inventors have a great idea that they then go on to make into a machine, object , process or method. Once they create the physical object, though, many do not know what their next steps can be. Some decide to manufacture their invention themselves.

For those who do not want to manufacture an invention, or do not have the means to do so, licensing inventions can be a viable and lucrative alternative.

Why license an invention?

You have a great invention, but either you do not want to or cannot afford to manufacture it yourself.

Where do you need to be in the process to license an invention?

Licensing inventions generally requires you to have things in place: A working prototype and some sort of patent protection.

A Working Prototype

It is difficult to get a patent without some showing that the device or invention does what is claimed. It is also hard to get a patent if no one can see that the item works. It is also hard to describe something for patenting purposes without a functioning model.

Patent Protection

You need to own something to license. No matter how good the product is, if someone else can copy it without paying you, why would they pay for the license? They wouldn’t so you need the patent protection. You should have at least filed for the initial patent and had a patent search completed by someone reputable to show that the item can be patented before you look for a business to license your inventions.

When you are talking with companies about investing in your invention, it is important to keep your goals in mind.

What is the goal of licensing inventions?

A licensing agreement for your invention with a reputable company.

What is a Licensing Agreement? An agreement with between two parties, in this case, you the inventor and someone else who will manufacture or arrange for manufacture of the goods, where either the person manufacturing pays a fee to you, or a third party pays a fee to you, for the goods.

What about Licensing Invention Fees? How Do They Work?

The licensing inventions fee can be structured many different ways. A common way is royalties, where the other party pays a flat fee back for every item they sell. The price must be negotiated and varies greatly by type of industry, cost of product, nature of product, and what the market will bear.

Another option is for the manufacturer to pay a lump sum for the right to the invention license up front, or an annual fee, rather than a royalty based invention licensing fee. The total fees under the agreement can be a combination of the two described fees or some other combination of fees and charges.

How much should the fees come to?

It depends on the industry and whether you have multiple businesses interested in your invention. It also depends on the potential market for the invention, which can be analyzed and assessed based upon trends already known in the industry. In addition, the amount of profit that a particular product can make matters. The potential manufacturer will evaluate what people will pay for the product in comparison to what it costs to produce it, or potential profit margin.

Keep In Mind

No matter how great an invention is, it may or may not generate immediate interest. The level of interest in a product is based on whether potential businesses can see the possible applications and money-making opportunities, not whether they exist. So if no one is interested in licensing an invention but you have confidence in the product and you own the patent, manufacture a small amount and establish that the invention will sell. It may enable you to get a potential manufacturer interested when you could not before, and thereafter negotiate invention licensing royalties.

January 16, 2013
What Inventor Assistance Is Available
There are a lot of websites out there offering basic inventor assistance regarding patenting and other types of advice regarding your inventions. Some are certainly helpful at getting started and perhaps providing some introductory information as to patentability and other alternatives an inventor might pursue to protect an invention.

Consult a professional about whether your invention may have commercial value, and get inventor assistance and help with whether or not to patent and how to patent your invention.

Non-Profits Companies Providing Inventor Assistance

Benefit: There are a few nonprofit organizations that can help an inventor determine if they should spend the money and energy developing an idea. One is the Inventor’s Assistance League, Inc. Such organizations have been generally found to be helpful and a key benefit to discussing an invention with them and other professionals who advise about the value of inventions is the focus on marketing and the business end, which many inventors do not have.

Possible Downsides: No interest in the commercial investment can limit interest in developing the product and not all of the contacts at organizations like these have a lot of business experience.

Professionals That Help Develop Inventions and Products

Benefit: There are businesses that specialize in product development and prototype development. Some of these provide helpful inventor assistance so long as you have a good contract in place to protect your invention when you deal with them. They are a business and they have commercial priorities, so if they think the product can sell they will often be willing to work with you.

Possible Downsides: These businesses have areas that they specialize in, and if your invention isn’t “their kind of thing” their interest and feedback may be of limited value.

Using The USPTO For Inventor Assistance

If you know you want to patent something up front, the USPTO provides some very general assistant to inventors. They have an inventors’ assistance section that is on the USPTO website. Keep in mind that the information they are willing to provide is very general and is targeted at the process of getting an invention, not an individual’s specific invention. The staff at the USPTO cannot give advice as to a specific invention and they cannot give legal advice.

Consulting Outside Sources Gives Additional Information and A Different Approach

Consulting with a professional, either from a non-profit of the private sector has value on at least two fronts:
1. The inventor gets feedback from a party that is not invested in the invention’s success.
2. The inventor gets feedback from a party that knows about the marketplace and what sells.
Keep In Mind: Professionals are not always right

No matter who you talk to, there are literally thousands of inventions and products that everyone thought would fail except the handful of people who got it on the market. While most inventions have no commercial value, some do. If you see it but others don’t you should not give up on your invention.
January 16, 2013
How To Sell An Invention

Want to know how to sell an invention? Well, first things first, make sure you have your prototype ready. With or without a patent, an inventor needs a working prototype to sell most inventions successfully.

How To Sell An Invention With A Patent

Inventors can sell their invention with a patent either approved or in process. Either position is stronger than without a patent. Most businesses that acquire inventions are interested in items that are actually patentable, so demonstrating this up front will increase the inventor’s negotiating position by a lot and enable the inventor to command much larger fees. This process can be negotiated with a full patent application in process, complete, or even a provisional patent.

Provisional Patents

A provisional patent may be a better route for an inventor that does not want to make the full commitment of funds to an actual patent. It costs a few hundred dollars and gets the patent process started, and allows for a year of not filing very much paperwork. It can allow initial protection of the inventive idea without making the huge investment while an inventor looks for an investor or buyer for the invention.

Downside to Provisional Patents: If the patentability of the invention is not at least explored by patent searches that show the invention can be patented, many potential buyers will look at the invention as unpatentable, or probably unpatentable. Having a provisional patent may help in how to sell your invention to companies that know the field and can gauge themselves the likelihood that the invention can be patented.

An Invention with a Patent that has issued (been approved) or under USPTO Review

A patent is an expensive process. Depending on the type of invention, the writing, researching and prosecution of the patent (taking the patent through the examination process with the USPTO) typically costs thousands of dollars. It is sometimes difficult to know how to sell an invention without investment. If the invention warrants the investment, however, the owner of the invention is in a much better position to market his or her invention to potential buyers. The inventor can also do so relatively “safely” with a patent in place to reduce the likelihood of outright copying of the invention.

How To Sell An Invention Without A Patent

It can be difficult to find someone to pay for an invention that does not have patent protection. Knowing how to sell an invention without a patent is tricky. If you do not have a patent the idea is not protected so anyone can present it. The company has little reason to pay for an unprotected invention, even if you have a working prototype. There is also an underlying concern that an invention that is not patented or is not in process is not patentable, and that while there may be value there is no reason to pay inventor royalties on it. If an inventor wants to try to sell an invention without a patent they can pitch the prototype with a presentation in similar venues to inventors with provisional patents or actual patents.

These would all be difficult avenues to pursue, but it has worked out with an invention here and there. Keep in mind that an unprotected invention may be copied, and the more freely the details of the invention are discussed, the easier it would be for a potential competitor to copy it.

How To Sell An Invention By Pitching

To Businesses that Deal In Products of the Kind: Focus on smaller to midsized businesses that may be open to products. Put together a marketing package to present the product to the company. The package should be just a few pages or even one page, explain what the invention does, and have pictures of the prototype to show that the inventor has something that works.

At Tradeshows

Here an inventor can pitch the product directly to businesses that may be interested, and a variation on the marketing package should be part of the plan.

Professional Marketing Companies

These are companies that specialize in marketing products and inventions, often for a fee and a cut of any sale of the invention to a company. They can be somewhat costly, so make sure they are reputable with a history in the field.

We hope this has provided you with some insight in how to sell an invention, and wish you much luck in getting your inventions out there.

January 15, 2013
Invention Protection 101

How Can You Protect Your Invention?

Inventions can be protected legally a variety of ways, depending on the nature of the invention. Patent protection, both provisional and standard, is the main invention protection method in the US and most Western countries.

This article will address a few points about invention protection options that will assist an inventor in getting his invention patented.

Quick and Short Term Invention Protection

Here’s some seemingly but not always obvious invention protection advice: Until you have it all figured out don’t tell too many people. Anyone who works on the invention with you should sign a non-disclosure agreement. Whenever possible, minimize the number of people who contribute to the project and make sure the people who do work on it for you have good reputation and are trustworthy. The more people an inventor involves in the inventive process, the harder it will be to keep the device a secret, and the more invention protection you will have.

Make Sure Your Invention Qualifies for Protection under the Law

Not all inventions can be patented or qualify for other types of legal protection from copying. Is the invention truly novel? Do you have a great idea but no working prototype or machine? You may not have anything you can legally protect. Even with an invention that cannot be patented inventors make money all the time. A great invention that cannot be protected in the marketplace has a good chance of being copied, so it can be difficult to get investors and businesses interested in it.

Only the following types of things are patentable: machines, processes, compositions of matter, or an article of manufacture. Even then the item must be useful in some way to qualify for patentable invention protection.

Provisional Patents

A Short-Term Affordable Option for an Invention that is Likely to be Patentable

A provisional patent will provide some invention protection during the pitch process. It is a preliminary filing with the USPTO that gives a description of the invention without all of the other supportive paperwork. It costs a few hundred dollars. The protection lasts a year or so, after that the filer of the provisional patent has to send in additional paperwork to convert the provisional patent application to a standard patent application.

Find a Partner with Deeper Pockets than You to Back It, and Possibly Pay for the Full Patent

If an inventor can find investors or businesses that believe in the invention and see its commercial value, they may want to develop and pay for the costly process of patenting the invention. In addition, if someone else copies the invention and starts making it while the patent application or patent are enforceable, which is called infringement on the patent, the deeper pockets will be able to pay to defend the patent.

Do Some of the Preliminary Work for the Patent Yourself

You can do some of the initial work to determine whether to patent an invention or not before investing in a patent attorney or agent and making the long term commitment to the patenting process of prosecution. You can perform basic patent searches on free sites all over the web, including the USPTO just to get a preliminary sense. Patent searching is not an easy process, so inexperienced people should not rely on their own searches to establish that their invention is novel. Professional patent and prior art searchers can determine if the invention is already out there in the public domain or under patent protection for a fairly reasonable sum.

A patent typically costs at least a few thousand dollars to get to a registered number, so it is good to make sure that the invention is valuable enough to the inventor before the investment is made. More complicated patents can cost tens of thousands of dollars and take several years to prosecute. An inventor can reduce the cost of patenting a less complicated patent by some of the shortcuts described here, but ultimately the level of commitment required to complete the process should not be underestimated. Inventors should be fairly sure that the value of the patent to them is on par with their investment of money and time.

These are some preliminary invention protection methods. Note that it is always advisable to consult with a patent attorney for specific advice related to your needs.

January 15, 2013