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When you are thinking of filing a patent application, you must head to the USPTO uspto.gov to learn more. Or, you can learn more about filing patent applications online at informative sites like Patent UFO
As a Tech & Patent Specialist, I've seen quite a bit. I've talked to all kinds of inventors.Several solo inventors are simply confused about the different kinds of Patents available, and what they protect (or don't protect).
Patent protection definitely comes in 3 a variety of forms. Utility Patents offer broad protection to your traditional "gadget" type of invention, for instance apparatus, methods, ways of making, processes, and now even software. Plant Patents are extremely only of interest to agriculturists as they protect specific strains or forms of plants. Design Patents are worth mentioning for two reasons. First, Design Patents are usually used by fraudulent invention brokers in many Patent invention con games. Second, Design Patents tend to overlap somewhat with copyright protection. A Design Patent only covers the ornamental outward appearance of an post of manufacture and thus provides very narrow protection.
The right after is really a brief description with the numerous Patent Kinds and what they essentially protect and don't protect. You'll find 3 easy kinds of Patents: Design Patents, Utility Patents, and Plant Patents. In addition, there is some thing named a "Provisional Patent Application" that may be not a Patent, but simply a techniques of holding your place in line at the Patent Office - but only for a Utility Patent Application. This article also discusses bar date problems and foreign filing types, for example Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and explodes the myth of the "International Patent".
A Design Patent covers the External Ornamental Appearance of an object ONLY. It doesn't cover the Function of an invention (i.e., how it works) but rather only how it LOOKS.
Obtaining a Design Patent is anything but easy.
There are legitimate situations exactly where a Design Patent could be of value. I learned how to prepare and prosecute Design Patent Applications from at Agent who is now an in-house counsel at a large sneaker company. At the time, we each had been working to your downtown law firm and he and I prepared many Patents for this sneaker business on their a number of shoes. He was a good teacher, and it was a very good education.
Design Patents appear deceptively easy. However, they're incredibly subtle. The Specification, Claims, and Drawings are all the exact same point - the drawings! Towards novice, this seems to simplify things, but should you rely upon your draftsman to prepare the application, you could be in for your world of woe.
Deciding what to "claim" and what to "disclaim" is part with the problem. If your Design Patent drawings include as well a lot ancillary subject matter, they may be to narrow in scope. Remember that to be able to infringe, an individual have to copy all the claimed subject matter. For this reason, we usually put portions of the type in dashed lines to be able to broaden the scope of protection. We try to "claim" only the key features or points of the design, rather than the entire type being a whole.
Another component of the dilemma is generating sure the invention is totally disclosed. All views with the object must be provided (or disclaimed) so that you can "define" the invention. Submitting plan drawings without having six plan views along with a perspective view could trigger a "fatal" 112 rejection. The appropriate use of shading (and knowing once not to use it) is also tricky as well.
Design Patents are extremely exciting for firms who desire to protect the appearance of their merchandise from cheap knock-off artists. For solo inventors, Design Patents could be less useful. Unless you happen to be actually creating a product or service which is possibly to become ripped off, you may not need Design protection. A Design Patent is extremely simple to "design around" simply by altering the ornamental appearance with the object. If you have a famous product, people desire to copy it with a look-alike. But should you have arrive up having a new Design, chances are, men and women can design one thing similar with no significantly difficulty.
And bear in mind that a Design Patent doesn't cover any functional aspects of an invention! Relying upon Design Patent protection being a "cheap" type of protecting an inventive idea is short-sighted.
Design Patents are a smaller portion of my practice, and I normally discourage customers from trying to have them, unless they quite particular needs tailored to Design Patent protection. For this reason too, I do not have a sample cost quote for Design Patents on my site. Although a Design Patent can sometimes be filed for a smaller amount than $1000, it all depends upon the nature and extent in the Drawings required. As this price can vary considerably, a cost quote to your Design case should be tailor-made for every applicant.
Another product or service worth mentioning with regard to Design Patents will be the overlap with Copyright protection. Copyright protection automatically attaches to a work as soon as it is reduced to a fixed medium. Copyright applies only for the expression of an idea, not on the underlying concept itself. Thus, although it is possible to copyright a book, you can not necessarily claim copyright on the overall story idea. Copyright is similar to Design Patent protection in that you just can claim copyright for an ornamental sculpture inside a similar way you are able to claim Design Patent protection for the ornamental appearance of an post of manufacture. At one time, the Patent Office required you, under the doctrine of election, to select one type of protection, but this sort of is no longer the case.
Three differences worth noting about Design Patents: First, the word of the Design Patent is 14 many years during the date of ISSUE, instead of 20 years during the date of FILING with utility Patents. Second, while a Design Patent can claim priority from a Utility Patent, it can't claim priority from a Provisional Application. Third, in case you are filing within the USA from a foreign "Industrial Design" application (or equivalent), the deadline for filing inside the USA is SIX MONTHS from your overseas filing date (as opposed to One YEAR for Utility Patents.
Utility Patents are the conventional "gadget" Patents that virtually everybody is familiar with. Utility Patents are considerably more pricey to obtain, as they need a complete description (Specification), drawings, and most importantly, CLAIMS.
The Claims of the Utility Patent describe the metes and bounds of your "intellectual property" and is also really difficult to draft and prosecute, even for a skilled Agent. For this reason, it's a great concept to secure the services of a qualified Agent in preparing and prosecuting a Patent Application. A Patent with weak or narrow claims just isn't worth paying the trouble fee on.
Traditionally, Utility Patents had been informally broken down into 3 groups: Mechanical, Electrical, and Chemical. Using a background in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, I almost limit myself to Mechanical and Electrical Patent preparation and prosecution. Chemical Patent method has some distinct features finest left to those who specialize in that field.
The Patent Office now officially recognizes Computer software and Methods of Generating Corporation as Patentable subject matter as well. I have written numerous Patents in this area, including 1 from the 1st Net Ways of Doing Corporation Patents (Internet Couponing).
The term of the Utility Patent is generally 20 many years inside the date of filing from the first application (under the new rules, you will find still some older cases "grandfathered in" under the old rules). You possibly can file a U.S. Software from a foreign software program inside 1 YEAR on the filing date of the foreign application.
Don't just rely on random articles. Take the time to learn more about how to file patent applications online
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