PATENTS XIII. Some Preliminary Steps You Can Take to Help Protect Your Invention.
A. Maintain a Bound Notebook.
Keeping a running record in a bound notebook of the steps you take to develop your invention, and periodically signing and dating pages in the notebook and having other individuals sign and date pages to witness your work is useful evidence that you were responsible for developing a particular invention.
B. Prepare a Disclosure Document.
Another way to establish that you are the inventor is to prepare a written disclosure, possibly with drawings or photographs, and to sign, date, and have the disclosure notarized.
C. File a Provisional Patent Application.
The United States is now a "first to file" country. As a result, the United States Patent Office assumes that the first person to file in the Patent Office a patent application for a particular invention is the inventor, and treats that person as the inventor, regardless of whether that person really was the first to invent. Consequently, promptly filing a patent application in the Patent Office can be an especially important step for you to take. A provisional patent application is a "preliminary" kind of application which allows an inventor to file, at reduced cost, an application in the Patent Office to obtain a filing date and the right to use "patent pending". A provisional patent application can not mature into an issued United States Patent. In order to obtain a patent, a full blown utility patent application must be filed. If a full blown utility patent application is filed within one year of the filing date of the provisional application, then the filing date of the provisional application is the constructive filing date of the utility patent application.
A full blown utility patent application can be filed in the Patent Office without filing a provisional patent application. Filing a provisional patent application prior to filing a full blown utility patent application is sometimes an attractive option because of the reduced cost of filing a provisional patent application in comparison to the cost of filing a full blown utility patent application.
In many cases, inventors take time to learn about provisional patent application at the Patent Office web site, www.uspto.gov, and then prepare and file a provisional patent applications without the assistance of a patent attorney.
Prior to deciding whether to file a provisional patent application, to file a full blown utility patent application, or to not patent application, it is highly recommended that you contact a patent attorney or patent agent to discuss your options.
D. Be Diligent.
There is a general requirement that, once you produce an invention, you be diligent and promptly file a patent application in the Patent Office. Consequently, unless there is an acceptable explanation for delay after an invention is produced, you ordinarily should not wait long to file a patent application. Undue delay may cause loss of patent rights.
E. Be Aware of the One Year Statute of Limitations.
In the United States you generally have one year after first public use or sale of an invention to file a patent application. If you don't file a provisional patent application or a full blown utility patent application within one year of first public use or sale of an invention, you likely have lost your patent rights with respect to that particular invention. If, however--after you fail to file a full blow utility application within one year a filing a provisional application--you develop new improvements to the invention, then you may still be able to file a utility patent application on the improvements as long as it has not been more than a year from first public use or sale of an embodiment of the invention which incorporates the new improvements.
F. Perform a Patent Search.
You can employ a patent attorney, patent agent, or patent search company to perform a search to determine what features of your invention may be patentable.
You can also perform your own patent search at the U.S. Patent Office web site, www.uspto.gov. Conducting a search at the Patent Office web site can be complicated.
Another place to perform a patent search is at the Goggle patent web site, currently www.google.com/patents. The Google web site currently seems more user friendly than the U.S. Patent Office web site.
G. Consult a Patent Attorney or Patent Agent.
It is recommended that--as soon as you produce an invention and/or are considering whether to obtain patent protection--you consult a patent attorney (or patent agent) concerning the above-listed (and other) steps you can take to protect your rights in your invention.
Keeping a running record in a bound notebook of the steps you take to develop your invention, and periodically signing and dating pages in the notebook and having other individuals sign and date pages to witness your work is useful evidence that you were responsible for developing a particular invention.
B. Prepare a Disclosure Document.
Another way to establish that you are the inventor is to prepare a written disclosure, possibly with drawings or photographs, and to sign, date, and have the disclosure notarized.
C. File a Provisional Patent Application.
The United States is now a "first to file" country. As a result, the United States Patent Office assumes that the first person to file in the Patent Office a patent application for a particular invention is the inventor, and treats that person as the inventor, regardless of whether that person really was the first to invent. Consequently, promptly filing a patent application in the Patent Office can be an especially important step for you to take. A provisional patent application is a "preliminary" kind of application which allows an inventor to file, at reduced cost, an application in the Patent Office to obtain a filing date and the right to use "patent pending". A provisional patent application can not mature into an issued United States Patent. In order to obtain a patent, a full blown utility patent application must be filed. If a full blown utility patent application is filed within one year of the filing date of the provisional application, then the filing date of the provisional application is the constructive filing date of the utility patent application.
A full blown utility patent application can be filed in the Patent Office without filing a provisional patent application. Filing a provisional patent application prior to filing a full blown utility patent application is sometimes an attractive option because of the reduced cost of filing a provisional patent application in comparison to the cost of filing a full blown utility patent application.
In many cases, inventors take time to learn about provisional patent application at the Patent Office web site, www.uspto.gov, and then prepare and file a provisional patent applications without the assistance of a patent attorney.
Prior to deciding whether to file a provisional patent application, to file a full blown utility patent application, or to not patent application, it is highly recommended that you contact a patent attorney or patent agent to discuss your options.
D. Be Diligent.
There is a general requirement that, once you produce an invention, you be diligent and promptly file a patent application in the Patent Office. Consequently, unless there is an acceptable explanation for delay after an invention is produced, you ordinarily should not wait long to file a patent application. Undue delay may cause loss of patent rights.
E. Be Aware of the One Year Statute of Limitations.
In the United States you generally have one year after first public use or sale of an invention to file a patent application. If you don't file a provisional patent application or a full blown utility patent application within one year of first public use or sale of an invention, you likely have lost your patent rights with respect to that particular invention. If, however--after you fail to file a full blow utility application within one year a filing a provisional application--you develop new improvements to the invention, then you may still be able to file a utility patent application on the improvements as long as it has not been more than a year from first public use or sale of an embodiment of the invention which incorporates the new improvements.
F. Perform a Patent Search.
You can employ a patent attorney, patent agent, or patent search company to perform a search to determine what features of your invention may be patentable.
You can also perform your own patent search at the U.S. Patent Office web site, www.uspto.gov. Conducting a search at the Patent Office web site can be complicated.
Another place to perform a patent search is at the Goggle patent web site, currently www.google.com/patents. The Google web site currently seems more user friendly than the U.S. Patent Office web site.
G. Consult a Patent Attorney or Patent Agent.
It is recommended that--as soon as you produce an invention and/or are considering whether to obtain patent protection--you consult a patent attorney (or patent agent) concerning the above-listed (and other) steps you can take to protect your rights in your invention.
PHOTOGRAPH AND ILLUSTRATION ATTRIBUTIONS: (1) "Clock". Thank you publicdomainpictures.net. (2) "Bicycle" by Karen Arnold. Thank you publicdomainpictures.net.