Category: Patenting

In this article we are going to talk about the patent invention basics to get you started in the invention patenting process.

Inventors do a lot of hard work to come up with great ideas and ultimately inventions to improve everyone’s quality of life.

To stimulate that process and provide economic incentives for people to develop valuable inventions, the US and most Western governments provide legal protection for inventions for a limited period of time, if an inventor establishes their invention is novel and useful.

What A Patent Is For

A patent provides 20 years of exclusive ownership rights over new inventions that meet the standards provided for review. Patented inventions must be found useful by USPTO standards.

One purpose of patent protection is to stimulate creativity and reward investment in new ideas and their applications.

What Is A Patent Not For

The patent invention process falls under certain limits and categories. Patents do not cover arrangements of words, which are covered under copyright or brand-related images, which are covered under trademarks. They also do not protect any invention that is not original or closely that resembles what is already known in the field. There are also things present in the world that are considered ideas or considered “natural” like dirt, literally. These things are not patentable.

Who Makes A Patent Invention Official?

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) makes a patent invention official. The process of assessing whether an invention is patentable is called patent prosecution. It requires submission of paperwork to support the invention and show that the invention is original and not obvious to professionals in the field.

When the patent invention process is complete if it is successful a patent is issued and the invention receives a patent registration number. The USPTO offers a lot of information about how to patent at its website www.uspto.gov.

The Three Types of Patents

A patent invention may fall under the following categories:

Utility Patents

Protects machines, methods/processes, compositions (which include modified genes) and variations thereof.

Design Patents

Protect the outward appearance of an item, how it looks. Furniture and highly useful common items often receive design patents, like a special hook to hang a coat on that has an unusual shape.

Plant Patents

Protect plants (the green things that grown in your house and in the woods). It is a highly specialized area and if this is the type of patent you are interested in you are probably not patenting the plant on your own.

A Novel Patent Invention

If an inventor has a great idea, the most important thing to establish is whether the idea is patentable. Patentability affects the value of the invention in the marketplace and knowing whether it is patentable enables an inventor to make decisions about how to sell or market the invention.

A basic patent search can be performed on Google, at the patent search office, and many other free services.

If the inventor searches and finds nothing then it is worth investing to have a professional searcher look and see what they can find. Professional searchers will perform that function for a few hundred dollars and can save an inventor from making a substantial investment they would not otherwise make.

If the inventor searches and does find something that sounds like his or her invention, they may want to look further into what the patent covers to determine if it includes the same invention that he or she wants to patent.

The Traditional, Full Patent Invention Application

This requires quite a bit of money, often thousands of dollars or more. The typical patent for an invention also takes more than a year and up to several years to be approved, so getting a patent is a commitment.

The Provisional Patent

The provisional patent is basic paperwork that describes the invention and gives the filer a year to “get going” on the full patent application. It costs a few hundred dollars to file so many inventors start here. It is important not to let the term expire without making a decision about whether to follow through with the patent.

Hire a Professional

For most serious endeavors to develop an invention it is worth hiring a patent agent or patent attorney to work with the invention and prepare the application materials. The USPTO will likely require changes to the patent and have questions throughout the process, and it is helpful to have someone to respond who is knowledgeable.

While there are fees, there is little purpose in going through the process of applying for a patent and then not receiving one because the application was not completed or followed through with sufficiently.

A patent is only as valuable as the invention that it protects, so it is important to evaluate whether the invention warrants the financial investment. The process of receiving a patent invention is quite a bit of work, but one that many inventors have found to be worthwhile.

Patenting an idea is not necessary as straightforward as it seems, but it is also not overly complex. Inventors often talk about their great idea and how they have to get patent protection for it.

There is only one problem. It is not possible to simply go about patenting an idea!

Ideas are free and unprotectable in the US, unless you just keep the idea to yourself. Patent law protection applies to inventions or methods that are protected because they are applications of ideas. So, first you have to get to the point where you have something to patent.

Patenting an idea requires the inventor to have an invention, a method, a machine or an object you made that is concrete.

In addition, the invention has to be new, not obvious, and useful by government standards. If an invention meets these criteria, and a few others it can be protected by patent law.

First invent something with your great idea

Make something with your great idea if you really want to patent something. But you can’t patent everything. Actually, you can’t patent most things, and the vast majority of businesses rely on things that cannot be patented. Patenting requires two parts, novelty and lack of obviousness.

Novelty

Patenting an idea requires novelty. Nobody can have it already. It’s not just that no one can have patented it before, it actually has to be considered new. It cannot be in the literature and it cannot be sitting on someone’s desk in their pencil drawer unless it is you the inventor or one of the people who works with you.

Non-Obviousness

Even if it is novel, a little more is required. If it is something that people who know the industry would think, yeah, we should do that, it is so obvious, it still cannot be patented. So if you have seen red bottle tops but nobody made green ones, and everyone in the industry knows about the color green and paint and dye, most people would think the green is obvious. So there is no invention to protect with green bottle tops even if it is novel.

Patenting an Idea Types

If you want patent protection for your invention, it comes in three options:

Design Patent

Patenting an idea in the form of a design protects the appearance of an item. This can be the new bread basket that has a subtle sloping back that is ergonomic in your hand and made of regular wood. A lot of artistic design fits this arena.

Utility Patent

A utility protects the constructed item itself, including the mechanics or electronics. This could be the new chair with a completely different base than has ever been seen, balanced on a gyroscope of some kind that defies gravity. Other examples- computers, artificially constructed cells in biotechnology. There are four types of utility patents:

Machines

Mechanisms, mechanical, electrical or otherwise, that do things. Example, computers, but also simple example: pulleys.

Methods

ways of doing things, example: a way of dispensing a drug

Article of Manufacture 

things you make out of known materials—like a hammer.

Composition of matter 

Whenever you mix something together and get something new – that is composition of matter. It does not have to be stable or long lasting.

Plant Patents

While there is a special group of patents for people interested in plants, it is a much smaller group of people. So it gets a brief mention.

Generally, the patenting an idea process is more selective and specific than many inventors think. It is not for every great idea out there that gets turned into a great invention. If an invention meets the criteria, however, it can make your invention more valuable because of the exclusive rights the invention and anyone license or sell an invention to would have for twenty years after you patent your invention. So every inventor with a great invention should look into patent protection to determine if it will work for them.

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.