How to Find Out If Your Mixed Drink Is Patented
People come up with new and original ideas every day, or so they think. If you have an original idea that you would like to patent, you will first need to make sure that no one else has legally claimed the same idea. Gaining a patent for a mixed drink will ensure that the idea is completely yours. However, you need to first make sure that the idea does not already belong to someone else. With a little help from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), you can search to see if your patent already exists.
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Instructions
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Log onto the USPTO website (see Reference 2) and select "Advanced Search."
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Select "Advanced Search" from the list on the left that appears on the page.
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Locate the blank text field on top left that reads "Query." Insert your mixed drink information here. For example, add any ingredients that you are using in your beverage and select "Search."
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Allow the page to load. You should be able to see a list of patents that have been granted that share the keywords that you have used in your query search.
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Click the links of these patents and they will open up the entire patent's documentation. The document will include everything you need to know to compare with your mixed drink idea. It will show the patent number, which you can record to keep track of if you'd like, as well as any ingredients in the mixed drinks.
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Read through the patents on the site to make sure that you have not created something already created. It may take a very long time, as most query searches can come up with thousands of hits. Take notes of what is on the USPTO website and deliberate to see if your drink really is original.
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Tips & Warnings
Before you begin searching on the USPTO website, you might try to insert your beverage's ingredients into a search engine to see if someone's already put a name to the drink. If they have, you can use that name in the query box on the USPTO site to narrow your searches.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit columns image by paulo cruz from Fotolia.com
