have you patented your idea?

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  • 8/14/2019 Have You Patented Your Idea?

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    Do you have a unique idea? And have you shared it with someone? Have you patented?If not, do it today.

    What is a Patent?

    If you have invented something or made a new discovery, you should be able toenjoy the valuable monetary rights which you can enforce for your own advantageeither by using it yourself or by conveying the privileges to others. It is a form

    of intellectual property which has commercial value. Patent is a grant by theGovernment to the inventor for a limited period of time giving the exclusive rightto him to make use, exercise and vend its invention. A United States patent givesinventors the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, orselling their invention throughout the United States or importing their inventioninto the United States for a limited period of time.How do you know whether you need a Patent or not?

    The question will arise only if you have invented or discovered any new and usefulprocess, machine, manufacture or composition of matter or any new and usefulimprovement thereof. You may obtain a patent for it, subject to the conditions andrequirements of the law of the particular country by which such Patent is to be

    obtained. The invention must fall in any of the three categories. First is UtilityPatents which includes Process, machine, Article of manufacture, composition ofmatter or an improvement of any of above items. Most of the patents are forincremental improvements in known technology; the innovation is evolution ratherthan revolution. Next comes Plant patent, which provide patent protection forasexually reproduced any distinct and new variety of plant. The third category isdesign patent for the new ornamental design of an article of manufacture. Forexample all the Star Wars characters were protected by design patents.

    The test of patentability is three, namely, it must be new, it must be non-obviousand it must be useful. Some inventions cannot be patented in spite of fulfillingall of the three criteria because they are either injurious to public health orviolate public morality or public interest or if the law in the particular country

    has declared the inventions non-patentable in that particular field to which thepatent belongs. Also a process of treatment of human beings, animals or plantscannot be patented. In simple language a patentable invention must never havebeen made public in any way, anywhere in the world a year before the date on whichan application for a patent is filed. In other countries, you have no one yeargrace period and require absolute novelty. It is not new if it is identical or toosimilar to invention known or used by others or patented or described in a printedpublication in any part of the world or the invention was patented or described orwas in public use in any part of the world for more than one year prior to yourapplication.

    Your invention must be sufficiently different from what has been used or describedbefore that it may be said to be non-obvious to a person having ordinary skill in

    the area of technology related to your invention. The usability angle tells thatthe invention must be a practical form of an apparatus or device which isoperative and performs the indented purpose. It should be noted that laws ofnature, physical phenomena and abstract ideas are not patentable no matter howuseful they are.

    The rest is procedural.

    Once you know your idea qualifies then what you need to do is to get a Patent forit. The patenting process is tedious and time taking which is not possible for alayman to understand. These are handled by Registered Patent Attorneys or Agents

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    and Law Offices dealing Intellectual Property Rights. Before your invention can gofor registration you need to do a search for all previous public disclosures thatconcern your invention. These are called Prior Art. It includes any patentsrelated to your invention, any published articles about your invention, and anypublic demonstrations. This determines whether your idea or invention ispatentable or not. Again this work is a learned skill and is performed byRegistered Patent Attorneys or Agents and Law Offices dealing in IntellectualProperty Rights. As search is not impossible you could try your hand in Patent and

    Trademark Depository Library (PTDL) in your area. A thorough examination ofUSPTO records is required which has to cover all U.S. and foreign patents aswell as non-patent literature.

    After filing of the application for patent, the examiner checks whether your claimto invention must be granted a patent or not. You have to furnish manyspecification and description regarding the invention. You are advised to passthem to your attorney who will guide you about writing and claims and otherformalities which will save time and money and make the chances of getting apatent brighter.

    John Ross is a http://www.rosspatent.com company has helped clients acquire morethan 280 patents. Click here to see his range of http://rosspatent.com/servicesthat includes trademarks and copyrights.