By getting a patent, you legally protect your invention or idea from being used by other people or businesses. Similar to a patent, trademarks protect names, words and symbols, whereas a copyright protects an author's work, including writings and artistic and musical work, from being copied without permission. For example, a pharmaceutical company gets a patent for a new drug, a writer can get a copyright for a novel and a soft drink maker can get a trademark for a label.
A utility patent protects improvements or new inventions that relate to products, processes, machines or manufacturing. A provisional utility patent allows you to complete the patent application within one year. By filing a provisional rather than a nonprovisional patent, you receive additional time, such as to test your invention or for fundraising. According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, nearly 90 percent of patent applications are utility-based. Other types of patents are design- or plant-based.
Basics
The main requirements for obtaining a patent involve demonstrating a novel, nonobvious and useful invention. You will need to submit an application under oath that thoroughly describes your invention. You can file the patent application on your own--without an attorney--or with the help of a patent agent and attorney. There are some inventions that are ineligible for patent protection, such as science phenomena and math formulas.
Fees
Filing fees depend on the number of claims that you are submitting. Realize that the cost of obtaining a patent can be rather expensive initially, but you receive protection for up to 20 years. If you are an individual inventor or work for a small company, then the initial application fees easily can exceed $1,200. If cost and time are major factors, then you might want to file for a provisional patent. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's current fee for a provisional patent is $110, which provides you with conditional protection, plus additional time, before you must pay the nonprovisional filing fees.
Application
Review your patent application carefully before submission to ensure that it is thoroughly prepared. Consider ways that your patent might be altered or used, because you want to prevent someone else from expanding on your invention and stopping you from using your own patent. Patent applications can take up to five years to be adjudicated. Please avoid creating a blog, writing a scholarly article or publicly advertising your invention until you successfully file your patent, because you might inadvertently cause yourself to become ineligible for approval.
Resources
You have to establish within your patent application (utility or provisional) that your invention is nonobvious, novel and useful. To submit a clear illustration of your invention, consider consulting with an artist that has experience with technical drawings instead of submitting your own drawings. Make sure that you keep records of your notes and experiments to support your claim, especially if someone else is claiming to be the first inventor and fighting for the patent. For a list of existing patents (currently more than 5 million), explore the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's website, which also contains an inventor resources page as well as past transcripts of online chats. After obtaining your patent, remember to conduct patent searches so that you can investigate if another person or business is infringing on your patent.
Rejection
Patent applications are regularly rejected. For instance, an application examiner might think that the application is a paper patent, meaning that it was created only in theory. If you think that the rejection is improper or invalid, then consider amending either independent or dependent claim(s) within your application.
