subject: Patent Law And The 4 Players Involved [print this page] The central figure involved in the process of getting a patent for your invention is you, the inventor. You are the inventor because the product, its design and manufacture was your idea and it was you while turned an idea into reality. Even if you hire a design development company to make the prototype for you, you are still the inventor. Here is a list of people/departments involved in the patent process:
*The Inventor: A patent can be held by an individual or a group. Companies and businesses cannot be granted one; however a group or individual within the company can be granted a patent. A patent will be granted to each member of the group responsible for the invention. There is no restriction on how they work: they can work together, separately on different aspects of the invention, or could even be working on the same project but developing different aspects of the product. As long as the inventor/s can prove that it works, they can apply for a patent.
*The Patent Office: The patent office consists of departments that receives, examines and processes new applications. These applications are examined by officials known as patent examiners. The patent office will also have a huge archive library of all patents approved by them, and which they refer when granting new patents.
*Patent Examiners: These are the officials who dissect your patent application and determine whether your invention is worthy enough to be granted a patent. Here is when the archives are used as the examiner will check your patent request against other patents to ensure that your invention is unique. If not, your application will be rejected. The examiner will also see if the invention is "non-obvious". This means that if your invention is an improvement on a product already in use, the change should not be an obvious one that anyone would make.
*Patent attorneys and agents: Your patent application has to be in order. If you don't submit a perfect application, you will not receive a patent. It is best to have the application by a patent professional so that everything is in order.
The procedure of deciding if your application should be granted a patent is called the "prosecution". The examiner may find a number of flaws and send the application back to you. You will have to reply, countering the flaws pointed out, within a certain time else you will not be awarded a patent. This is why it would be best to hire a professional to help you with writing the application.
