Frequently Asked Questions About Patents

What is a Patent?

According to the United States Patent Office a Patent is

"A property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted."

Why get a Patent?

A patent is a document that turns an idea into a piece of property that can be bought and sold. An inventor without patent protection often finds he or she has nothing to sell when it is time to raise money from a financier such as an Angel or Venture Capitalist. A person with a patent is taken much more seriously than a person with just an idea.

One reason is that a patent protects the purchaser as well as the inventor. Companies who have their own internal R&D programs are very wary of dealing with an outsider with an idea who might later sue them when the similar idea from their own laboratory finally makes it to the marketplace.

There are a number of folk tales about Patents that are both wrong and dangerous , one is that you can get a patent simply by mailing a copy of your idea to yourself by registered mail.

What is a Patent Search? Why do I need one?

The first step in getting a patent is to see if someone has already patented the idea. That is done by an inexpensive search of the "prior art". It is very important to see if someone has already patented your idea. If they have the search can you save yourself both the cost of filing a more expensive patent application and the much larger cost of commercializing an invention that someone with a patent can prevent you from practicing.

We can search both the US and European patent archives. Searches of foreign patents in Japan and other countries can be made available at extra cost. Ask for a quote.

What is a Provisional Patent?

Provisional Patent applications allow a quick filing at a lower cost in patent office charges and quickly establish both a filing date and Patent Pending status - however there are some drawbacks - as noted in the following quote:

"Since June 8, 1995, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has offered inventors the option of filing a provisional application for patent which was designed to provide a lower-cost first patent filing in the United States ...

A provisional application for patent is a U. S. national application for patent filed in the USPTO ... It allows filing without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any information disclosure (prior art) statement. It provides the means to establish an early effective filing date in a non-provisional patent application ... It also allows the term "Patent Pending" to be applied.

A provisional application for patent (provisional application) has a pendency lasting 12 months from the date the provisional application is filed. The 12-month pendency period cannot be extended."