What is a patent?
A US patent gives the owner the right to exclude others from making, using or selling products falling under its scope in the United States. It's referred to as a legal monopoly.
Utility and design patents
There are two common types of patents. Almost always the stronger type is a utility patent. Utility patents refer to devices, systems, machinery, software, and have utility value. This should be your focus.
Design patents only refer to ornamental appearance. You don't usually want to waste your time on design patents, which tend to be easy to design around.
Requirements
The US Patent Office says to get a patent the inventive subject matter must meet three criteria:
- It must be unique. It cannot be something that is known or anticipated by those experienced in the trade (the field of your invention).
- It must be useful. For Example, square tires would not be considered useful.
- Last, it must be be novel. If your invention was known in any other part of the world before you discovered or created it, you can't patent it.
According to the US Patent Office, only the original inventor may file a patent application and receive a valid patent. Knowingly filing a patent application on someone else's subject matter is committing fraud.
Writing, filing patent applications
Experienced inventors write their own patent applications. You should too. Start with a provisional application. Don't trust anyone who tells you to skip the provisional and file the permanent one. You should not file a patent application without knowing your invention is marketable.
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Experienced inventors don't rush to file Smart inventors use an approach to patenting that avoids rush filing and results in much stronger patents...(more) |
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The worst patents we've ever seen? They are ones filed by invention companies, the same companies you read about that get sued by their customers and the Federal Trade Commission. The reason is directly related to their horrible success rate...(more) |
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