Steps to file a patent

Get your eFiler registration out of the way and read up on their most recent filing resources to make sure you know what's expected of your application. Gather information for your formal application. You're going to have to prepare a specification, which includes an abstract, background, summary, a detailed description and your conclusion, including the ramifications and scope. Complete and review your formal application. It takes one to three years, on average, for a patent application to process.

You don't want it rejected for unnecessary errors or simple mistakes, so make sure you get it as close to right as possible the first time.

Participate in the patent process. You'll have one patent examiner assigned to your case. If you receive any correspondence or requests from them, respond as soon as you possibly can.

Keep in mind that if you have an attorney, the USPTO will communicate directly with them, so you'll need to get your updates there. Start with broad keywords that describe the field and then add specific keywords that describe the novel features of your invention. The most important thing in conducting a search is to know what makes your invention novel and to take the time to read each reference vigilantly to see if it has that novel thing.

Online patent search services conduct a search of the USPTO database of existing patents and published patent applications for you based on several different criteria and provide you with a report. The report can help you identify possible conflicts in advance and determine the patentability of your invention. Tip: A good test of your keywords is to identify a known relevant prior art reference and see if your search logic can find it.

Be sure to consider plurals, synonyms, abbreviations and spelling variations. Save your search strings so that you can repeat them. You can file a patent application on behalf of yourself or your co-inventors. Alternatively, you can hire a registered patent agent or attorney to file your application for you. Patent applications require both legal and technical expertise and even small mistakes can dramatically compromise the value of the patent. That expertise comes at a cost and even a simple patent can cost several thousand dollars.

The advantage of doing work yourself is cost savings. For example, if you write a description of the machine that you invented, you may limit that machine to components that you actually used. A lawyer with experience in the field may think to suggest or research different components that might work. As a result, you may have a harder time enforcing your patent against competitors because your description did not take the time to expand on your invention. A competitor may find an easy workaround.

Patents are filled with tiny details and getting any one of them wrong may compromise your patent. You can still do a lot. Provisional applications, for example, lack many of the formalities of utility patent applications.

If you file patent yourself, ask a lawyer to gently review it before your file it. Some choose to draft and file their own utility patent application. To do so, you could find a related patent and use it as a template to draft your application.

Make your own draft drawings by tracing photographs of your prototype. Include all the relevant references you found in your prior art search. Write your own claims to differentiate your invention from the prior art you found.

Even if a lawyer ends up filing your application for you, you will have gone along way to ensuring your patent application accurately reflects your invention. You will incur additional fees for submitting a paper application. Patents are expensive. Once your patent issues, you might wonder how you will get a return on the investment. Are you going to start a company? Talk with potential investors once you have a filing date. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

A step by step guide to the patent process from idea to a granted patent. All businesses and inventions start with an idea. Intellectual property rights like patents are the expression of that idea. Depending on the type of invention other types of Intellectual Property IP protection may be better. Find out more about patents before you apply. Your invention must be novel. This means it must never have been made public in any way, anywhere in the world, before the date your professional IP advisor files your patent application.

Most patent applications filed around the world every year fail to be granted, normally because a similar invention has been published before. To avoid wasting time, effort and money you should carry out a search through published patents and other documents such as trade catalogues before thinking about applying.

Or you could pay a patent attorney or other professional IP advisor to do a search for you. The most common mistake made by inventors is to reveal their invention before applying for a patent. If you have made your invention public, you could lose the possibility of being granted a patent. This could be by talking to people, giving a demonstration, taking out an advert, or being featured in article in a newspaper or magazine, or in any other way. If you need to talk to someone before you apply, such as a potential business partner or manufacturer, you should ask them to sign a confidentiality agreement first.

This means they have to treat what you tell them in confidence. A solicitor or patent attorney can prepare this type of agreement for you. Any conversation you have with a patent attorney or solicitor is confidential, so anything you say will not count as revealing your invention early. During the application process, you may be contacted by invention promotion companies.

If you are, be very careful what you agree to. Getting a patent is not a guarantee of business success. Deciding whether to apply for a patent should form part of your business planning. It is important to know exactly what makes your product or idea novel.

You can determine this by comparing your invention's features with the descriptions found in the references cited in the original patent. While you are conducting searches, you should consider using plurals, abbreviations, synonyms, and spelling variations.

Make sure you save your search strings in case you need to do the same searches again. Step 2: Hire a Patent Attorney. An experienced attorney can help you complete your patent application more efficiently and avoid mistakes than can be potentially costly. We will discuss the first two types here. A utility patent serves to protect a useful invention. As an inventor, you are only allowed to obtain a utility patent for certain kinds of inventions.

Generally, you cannot get a utility patent for an unmodified natural product, abstract idea, or algorithms that do not have useful applications in the real world. If you apply for a utility patent, you have to wait two to five years for the USPTO to respond and longer for it to issue a patent. You must submit a well-formatted written description of your invention that includes claims, any applicable drawings, and other formalities.

A design patent protects the ornamental design of an invention.