Invention ideas can be secured with a patent from the United States Patent Office. Applicants can file for their own patents, but the process is complicated enough that people usually need to get help from a patent company or an attorney that specializes in patent law. A patent can prevent others from stealing your ideas, from copying your patented designs, and from manufacturing products that your own the rights to. It protects your legal rights to claim ownership of the invention or design. There are two different types of patents and each type has different filing requirements. While filing either type can be costly, securing your ideas with a patent can provide huge financial rewards.
Determining Which Type of Patent You Need
There are two basic types of patents: design patents and utility patents. Design patents are the cheaper of the two because they only protect the ornamental design features of a product. Utility patents cost more because they protect processes, machines, manufactured materials, and what the patent office refers to as “new and useful improvements” to those things. The type of patent you need will be determined by whether your invention is for a design or for a new invention. In order to be approved for a patent, that design or invention must be original and innovative.
Design Patents
Design patents are generally easier to get than utility patents because they offer protection only to the surface ornamentation of a product. Because of that, it’s possible to get a design patent for an item that cannot be protected by a utility patent. Socks, for example, cannot be patented. A particular pattern put on the bottom of a sock can be patented, though, as long as it is unique. Design patents typically get approved faster than utility patents but not always.
Utility Patents
Utility patents are harder to obtain because it’s easier to come up with unique designs than it is to create original inventions. There are three basic categories for utility patents: electrical, mechanical, and chemical. The invention needs to have both a clearly designed purpose and be useful in some way. Filing can cost several thousand dollars in addition to the application fee, so it’s important to make sure the idea is actually patentable before proceeding. If obtained, a utility patent will give you the exclusive rights to make, use, sell, and export your invention. Anyone else who does so will be infringing on your patent, which means you would have legal protections against that type of action.
Filing for a Patent
The filing process begins with thorough research. The patent office keeps every patent application ever filed in a database. If your invention is not unique, the search will eventually reveal that. Next, it has to be determined that the invention is “non-obvious.” According to Lonestart Patent Services, “If there are any published records that show that someone else already thought of the idea, the patent will be rejected for non-obviousness. After the search, the actual filing can begin if your idea turned out to be both unique and non-obvious. The application must be filled out and submitted to the Patent Office along with a filing fee.” It must include detailed design plans and proof that the idea has actually been prototyped. During this part of the process, having expert help is very useful for getting a patent approved. Mistakes can cost lots of time and money. They can also prevent a patent from being approved.
Getting a patent is not an easy process but it can be very rewarding. Some people make fortunes by licensing their patented ideas to corporations. Others use their patents to protect the items their company makes.
