Each program is designed to advance the progress of a patent application and to provide applicant assistance. View a detailed Matrix of programs available Prior to Examination. Should you hire a Patent Attorney or Agent? The preparation of an application for patent and the conducting of the proceedings in the United States Patent and Trademark Office USPTO or Office to obtain the patent is an undertaking requiring the knowledge of patent law and rules and Office practice and procedures, as well as knowledge of the scientific or technical matters involved in the particular invention.
Inventors may prepare their own applications and file them in the USPTO and conduct the proceedings themselves, but unless they are familiar with these matters or study them in detail, they may get into considerable difficulty.
While a patent may be obtained in many cases by persons not skilled in this work, there would be no assurance that the patent obtained would adequately protect the particular invention. See the Patent Application Guides for the detailed legal requirements for filing the type of Patent Application you have determined is right for you. Submit your initial application with all the required parts needed for obtaining a filing date and include the correct fee. Before you sign your application, make sure that you read the written specification and claims.
If your application is incomplete , you will be notified of the deficiencies by an official letter from the USPTO, known as an Office Action. You will be given a time period to complete the application filing a surcharge may be required. If the omission is not corrected within a specified time period, the application will be returned or otherwise disposed of; the filing fee if submitted will be refunded less a handling fee as set forth in the fee schedule.
Learn more about responding to Office Actions. Estimate how long it will be until you receive your first official correspondence from the USPTO in response to your application. Once your application has been accepted as complete , it will be assigned for examination. Your examiner will review the contents of the application to determine if the application meets the requirements of 35 U.
If you have chosen legal representation , remember that once an application is filed by a patent attorney or agent, the USPTO will only communicate with the attorney or agent.
Inventors often call the USPTO for updates, but they have a designated attorney or agent representing them. Consider an Interview with your examiner - The USPTO encourages examiners to take a proactive approach to examination by reaching out and engaging our stakeholders in an effort to resolve issues and shorten prosecution.
If the examiner determines that your application is in satisfactory condition and meets the requirements, you will receive a Notice of Allowance. Utility and reissue patents are issued within about four weeks after the issue fee and any required publication fee are received in the Office. A patent number and issue date will be assigned to an application and an Issue Notification will be mailed after the issue fee has been paid and processed by the USPTO.
The patent grant is mailed on the issue date of the patent. It includes any references to prior patents, the inventor s ' names, specification, and claims to name a few.
It is bound in an attractive cover and includes a gold seal and red ribbon on the cover. Order certified documents - Order certified documents with the USPTO ribbon and seal as well as the signature of an authorized certifying officer. Maintenance fees are required to maintain a patent in force beyond 4, 8, and 12 years after the issue date for utility and reissue utility patents.
If the maintenance fee and any applicable surcharge are not paid in a timely manner, the patent will expire. For other assistance, please see our contact us page. Step 1 Anchor Step 1 Contact Patents. Patent Pro Bono Program for independent inventors and small businesses. The Program provides free legal assistance to under-resourced inventors interested in securing patent protection for their inventions.
What are patents, trademarks, servicemarks, and copyrights? Inventor resources Online services. Step 2 Inventors Assistance Center. The Inventors Assistance Center provides patent information and services to the public.
Patent and Trademark Resource Centers. A nationwide network of public, state, and academic libraries. Public Search Facility. Located in Alexandria, VA provides the public access to patent and trademark information in a variety of formats. List of Partners vendors. A patent is the granting of a property right by a sovereign authority to an inventor.
This grant provides the inventor exclusive rights to the patented process, design, or invention for a designated period in exchange for a comprehensive disclosure of the invention. They are a form of incorporeal right. Government agencies typically handle and approve applications for patents. In the United States, the U.
Most patents are valid for 20 years in the U. If seeking protection outside of the United States, it is important to research the intellectual property rights of other nations and apply for protection with their governing authorities. According to the U. Patent and Trademark Office, a patent can be granted to any person who:.
There are three types of patents available in the United States: utility patents, design patents, and plant patents.
Each has its own specifications and durations. Utility patents , or patents for invention, issue legal protection to people who invent a new and useful process, an article of manufacture, a machine, or a composition of matter.
A utility patent lasts for 20 years from the date of filing as long as maintenance fees are paid. Maintenance fees are surcharges applied to utility patent applications filed after December 12, Design patents are patents issued for original, new, and ornamental designs for manufactured products. Design patents protect the design or look of something. They require the invention to which the design belongs to be original and useful. Design patents last for 15 years for applications filed after May 13, For applications filed before May 13, , patents last for 14 years from the date of the filing.
Maintenance fees do not apply to design patents. Plant patents go to anyone who produces, discovers, and invents a new kind of plant capable of reproduction. These patents are granted for 20 years from the date of filing and no maintenance fees apply. Patents provide an incentive for companies or individuals to continue developing innovative products or services without the fear of infringement.
For example, large pharmaceutical companies can spend billions of dollars on research and development. In other words, patents protect the intellectual property of companies to help their profitability. However, patents also serve as bragging rights for companies demonstrating their innovativeness. Before making a formal application, an applicant should research the Patent and Trademark Office's database to see if another person or institution has claimed a patent for a similar invention.
The invention must be different from or an improvement upon a previous design to be considered for a patent. Applicants need to take care to maintain accurate records of the design process and the steps taken to create the invention.
Enforcing the patent is up to the person or entity that applied for the patent. To apply for a patent in the United States, the applicant submits specific documents and pays associated fees. Written documentation includes drawings, descriptions, and claims of the item to be patented. A formal oath or declaration confirming the authenticity of the invention or improvement of an existing invention must be signed and submitted by the inventor.
After fee payment, the application is reviewed and either approved or denied. Patents protect the intellectual property of companies and help ensure their profitability, but patents also serve as marketing for a company's innovation. The USPTO receives more than , patent applications per year with just over , of them granted. Many patents issued go to companies in the technology industry where Apple was granted 2, in Microsoft and Google were also granted patents.
However, IBM typically receives more than any company in the U. One of the most notable patents in the past 40 years was the personal computer filed in by Steve Jobs and three other employees of Apple Inc. King C. Gillette patented the razor in and was dubbed a "safety razor. The patent for the television was issued in to Philo Taylor Farnsworth for the "first television system. At age 20, Farnsworth had created the first electric television image and went on to invent an early model of the electronic microscope.
Patents are legal rights issued to inventors to protect their inventions for a certain time, usually 20 years. They exclude others from reproducing, using, or profiting from it without the expressed permission of the patent owner. In addition, you can have your employees agree to certain contract clauses, such as a non-disclosure agreement NDA and a non-compete agreement.
An NDA is essentially a confidentiality agreement outlining the scope of confidential information and barring disclosure of such. A non-compete agreement would bar your employees from entering into or starting a similar profession or trade in competition with you.
He has written extensively about small business loans, entrepreneurship, and marketing. Tags: Operations. What is a patent? What are the three types of patents? Utility patents Utility patents are applicable to the invention, discovery, or improvement of any useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter.
Design patents Design patents are applicable to the invention of a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. Plant patents Plant patents are applicable to the invention or discovery and asexual reproduction of any distinct and new variety of plant. The best way to explain this is in a practical example: John invented a new type of phone case that charges your phone with solar energy.
How to get a patent In order for an invention to be patentable it must be new and not obvious meaning someone in the same field would be surprised by such an invention. Application Examination After you file the application, it may take a number of years before it is approved see below for other options in the meantime.
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