subject: How To Acquire A Patent A Step Wise Guide [print this page] The whole process of acquiring a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) can be divided into three major steps. It is very important that the proper procedure as mentioned below is followed in order to maximize the chances of obtaining the patent. Further, you can also take free legal advice from lawyers who are associated with various websites where you can ask legal questions and get proper answers. It has been observed that 40%-70% patents are usually allowed and a lot depends on how you approach the process. Thus, there is plenty of room for mistakes that can be easily avoided by taking legal help and being careful with the planning.
Evaluation: Before filling the application for patent you should conduct the preliminary investigation that would help you in determining whether your patent is eligible or not. There are four main requirements that must be fulfilled by your invention in order to get a patent for it. You should be prepared to answer the following four questions during your due diligence about the invention.
Is the invention useful? Actually, you dont have to worry much about this question as your invention has to be just barely useful to somebody to qualify.
Is your invention the kind of thing they give patents on? If your invention is a gadget, electronic item, some physical device or chemical composition or anything similar then you can easily check off this question.
Is it a new invention? One of the most important conditions for a patent is that the invention should be completely new and no one should have created or done the similar thing in the past. You can always search the internet to make sure whether it is new or not.
Is it an obvious invention? You would probably feel that the invention is obvious as you have created it but obviousness is a very complicated term and you should not be very worried about it. It would probably be right to find a lawyer at this step and seek legal help.
File non-provisional patent application: Once you are satisfied with your preliminary investigation, you should file a non-provisional patent application with the USPTO. Your petition needs to contain following points:
A written description of the invention that should describe it well enough to make reader believe that you actually did the invention.
The description should be thorough enough to enable others to go out and build it.
It is always better to share what you might feel to be the best way to carry out the invention.
A claim section to describe exactly what you would like to own in the invention. Legal help should be taken at this step and you should find a lawyer who has proper experience in patents as writing the claims require proper expertise.
Negotiations with the US Patent Office: The USPTO usually takes around 1-3 years to respond to a patent petition and you should be ready to wait for it. Their usual response is a long letter explaining why you should not get the petition. Now you have to negotiate with USPTO in order to get the petition.
Legal help is most important in negotiation process as you have to convince the examiner assigned to your application that your invention deserves and an experienced lawyer can do this easily. Once you successfully pass through the negotiation process you would have the patent for your invention.
