Patents and TrademarksBy FitSmallBusiness.com

What’s the Difference?

Patents Protect Inventions(Including both products and processes.)

Trademarks Protect Branding(Including business names, logos, slogans and designs.)

Patents

Patent Law Has Changed Recently

Old System

First-to-Invent(Proof you invented first protected you)

New System

First-to-File(Proof you invented first doesn’t protect you anymore)

Can someone patent my already public

invention?

No.

Public Idea = No Patent(Unless you invented the idea in which case you have 1 year to file)

Getting a Patent is Expensive

(Between $10K and $25K for a quality filing)

Quality Matters(Do-it-Yourself and cheap online services will likely result in a worthless

patent)

When Should You Get a Patent?

Unless you are a large company, its hard to justify then effort and

expense.

Defending a patent can cost Several $100K or more...so it may

not even matter.

How to Decide

Is your idea commercially viable?(See our slideshare on how to test a business idea to find out)

Are you going to produce it?(Unless you have high level contacts in the industry it is unlikely that you will be able to

sell the patent.)

What’s the scope of the idea?(The broader the scope of the idea the harder it will be to obtain a patent.)

Trademarks

More Straightforward than patents.

When Should You Get a Trademark?

To win a Trademark case one has to prove that the use of the Trademark

is likely to confuse customers.

So....

If you are a local business, the effort/cost involved is likely not

worth it.

If you are a national business, then you may want to explore getting a

Trademark.

PatentlyO: New Patent Law Summary BlawgIT: 8 things to consider when choosing a patent attorney.

About.com: Their section on intellectual property

And Finally...

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