subject: Patenting An Invention: 4 Tips For You [print this page] If you are an inventor, or have invented something that you feel should be protected from other people who may want to use your idea, then you need to get a patent out on it. This means that the invention is your property alone and no one has the right to use, modify or market it in any way or form besides you. But before you patent your invention, you need to know if it can be patented. This means that it needs to be something that will actually be used, that it is not public knowledge at the time you are applying for the patent, and that the invention must be original and have ingenuity. Once you fulfill all these criteria, you can go ahead and apply for one. Here are four tips on how to go about it.
*The first thing you will need to do when applying for a patent is fill out an application and send it in to the patent office of the country you live in. Though patents aren't international, there is something called the Patent Cooperation Treaty so you don't need to apply for patents in various countries.
*If you are the inventor, only you can apply for the patent. If you and another person (or persons) are the inventors, the same rule holds. To save on money, you can write out the first draft of the application yourself, but the final copy should be seen and finished by a patent attorney who will be able to make sure all the correct legal terms and language are used so that holes cannot be poked in the application later on.
*The application is complex and the protection you get for your invention comes down to how the patent application was written out. It is a legal paper and every word written down has to be carefully chosen so that there are no complications later on.
*It is best to use broad terms when describing your invention as that will prevent someone else from patenting something that may be similar to yours but just different in a few aspects. The more difficult part of the application consists of describing your invention in detail, and adding drawings if required.
Patenting an invention is expensive and time-consuming, so it is better to do your homework and find out that your invention is an original one and that nothing similar is on the market or has been patented before you apply for one.
