Seven Steps to Take Before Applying for a Patent

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Seven Steps to Take Before Applying for a Patent
Before you begin the application process to
obtain a patent, there are a couple of steps you
should take first. You will need to gather and
document information, do some research, and learn
a bit about our patent laws. Doing your due
diligence can have a big impact on whether or not
your patent application is denied through a
rejection or an objection. Here are the seven
steps to take before submitting your patent
application. Find Out What a Patent Does First
you want to make sure you even need a patent. You
can do this by learning about the role of a
patent, the protections it offers, and the
rights it grants. In some cases you may be better
off applying for a trademark or copyright. In
other cases there may not be any value to getting
a patent. From there you will need to decide
which type of patent you need. There are three
types of patents Utility patents, design
patents, and plant patents. Each of these patents
provides a different form of protection. Learn If
You Can Apply For a Patent You can only apply for
a patent if you are the sole inventor. If you
invented a product with your company, you may
not qualify for a patent. If you invented a
patent with a partner or a team, you may need to
file for a joint patent with your team members.
If you do not have rights to the invention, you
cannot apply for a patent.
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Understand the Qualifications for a Patent You
cannot just patent any idea. All patents must
meet three basic requirements. The first is that
the invention must be novel, meaning it's a new
idea. The second is that is must be non-obvious,
which means that anyone with knowledge in the
field wouldn't easily come up with it. The last
is that it must provide a utility. You can read
more about the specifics of these definitions in
the United States Patent and Trademark Office
Manual of Patent Examination Process Chapter
2100. Research the Patent Application Process The
patent application process is pretty grueling and
requires a lot of formal documentation. Small
mistakes during the patent application process
can lead to a denial of your patent, so make sure
you understand exactly what you need to do. The
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
offers a variety of resources on their website
to help you understand the patent process. You
can also read our in-depth guide to the patent
application here. Keep a Record of Your
Invention A detailed record of your invention
process can help you qualify for a patent and
protect your ideas from infringement. You want
to describe and diagram each part of your
invention, detail the idea, and sign and date
every entry. You should also include any
modifications or prototype builds. Many inventors
keep an invention journal to document their
invention process. You will also be able to
reference your invention journal when filling
out your patent application. Assess the
Commercial Value of Your Invention Filing for a
patent is very costly. On the low end it costs
around 1,500 in fees. These costs get more
expensive when you add attorney fees and
invention development costs. You need to make
sure that you are investing your time and your
money into something that has market value. You
can do the market research on your own or hire a
third party company that specializes in market
analytics to help you gage demand and commercial
potential. With this information, you will also
need to decide if you will manufacture the
product yourself or license it to a third party
company. The decision on how you will market
your invention should also factor into the
cost-benefit analysis of obtaining a patent. Do a
Patent Search Before applying you need to make
sure that no one has already patented your idea
or invention. You can do this by conducting a
thorough patent search. There are a couple of
ways you can conduct a patent search. You can
start by searching the USPTO database. Also,
Google offers a free patent search feature in
their search engine. Finally, there are also many
companies that offer patent search services for a
fee. These companies can help do the
time-consuming research for you while you work on
your invention. Doing your due diligence before
you begin the patent application process can save
you a lot of headache down the line. For more
assistance in the planning stage, check out the
resources at Own My Invention.
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We offer a variety of information and services
that can help guide you from the earliest stages
of development all the way to taking your
product to market. So contact us today!

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