Patent Your Invention

Prior to the creation of the U.S. Patent Office, in the mid-18th century, society had a problem; inventors weren’t disclosing their ideas. This meant that things weren’t advancing as quickly as they should. The Patent Office offered a simple solution; an inventor discloses his/her idea publicly and is given a 20 year monopoly on their idea. This instantly leveled the playing field. The little guy could do business with the big corporations. The most common use of Patents, still to this day, is for negotiating royalties with other companies.

The various forms of Patent Protection include:

Provisional Patent Application (Informal Application, United States):

A temporary, one year, simplified patent application, which allows the applicant to claim a date of filing and patent pending status.

Utility Patent Application (Formal Application):

An application for a 20-year Patent, which protects the function, method or use of an item. This is the most common form of patent protection for technologies, products and methods.

PCT Patent (Patent Cooperation Treaty) Application:

Known as an International Application, a PCT Patent streamlines the process of filing a Patent in up to 153 countries.

Design Patent:

Design Patents simply protect the ornamental or esthetic appeal of an item. Often used for decorative furniture, French doors or vases etc.

1. Inventor does not file soon enough and loses rights to Patent
2. Inventor infringes on someone else’s Patent
3. No clear strategy after Patenting

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