How to Patent New Inventions

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By deshmukh
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According to definition from http://www.uspto.gov website, A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. There are three types of Patents: Utility Patent, Design Patent and Plant Patent. This article aims to state the procedure for patenting new inventions.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Research on your own
Understanding of Complete overview of Invention
Patent Counsel to prepare and prosecute patent.
Patent Services Agent / Attorney to prepare and file patent.
Money: About $6,000 to $10,000 for moderately complex patent.

Step 1

DETERMINATION OF COMMERCIAL VIABILITY -

It is important to determine the commercial viability of your invention. This includes determining the invention or discovery of process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter to be new and useful.
Step 2

PATENTABILITY SEARCH -

Try to find all the previous work done in the area of your invention. The patent examiner at USPTO office will try to find all the prior work done in the area so you need to review the patents that have been issued. Visit US patent database at http://www.uspto.gov website to perform your research. Some other useful links are: The National Inventor Fraud Center at http://www.inventorfraud.com/ and MIT / Lemelson Foundation site at http://web.mit.edu/invent/
Step 3

PREPARE INVENTION DISCLOSURE -

This includes a brief written description of your invention. the description should be complete enough to include information which can teach someone to make and use your invention. If your work is an improvement over any prior work done, then include a picture or reference of the prior work in this disclosure.
Step 4

PATENT FEES -

Usually for a moderately complex you will require $6,000 to $10,000 which includes patent search and patentability analysis. This can be done through Patent services office or Agent.
Step 5

NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT -

You will need to execute a nondisclosure agreement before disclosing your invention to anyone. There are general formats available on some websites which you can download and make any necessary modifications.

Comments

meridians said

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on 12/10/2009 helpful tips for getting a patent process started

tomekpilch said

on 2/24/2009 Here is a great overview of the patent filing process:http://www.lawfirms.com/resources/intellectual-property/patents/overview-patent-process.htm

msjoanna said

on 2/21/2009 good info, now if i just had an invention :(, I rated you

psychonurse said

on 2/20/2009 What great information. I could have been incredibly rich if when I removed burdocks from my daughter's hair, I had considered a product like Velcro. (I really think that the inventor was inspired by having to remove the burdock thistles from his dog.) I'll mark this one as a favorite 5*****