How to Know if Your Idea Qualifies for a Patent

So you've just invented the next great thing, certain to improve humankind - and maybe even make you rich. Your new invention may qualify for patent protection, which can help keep your competitors at bay. Here's how to know if your idea can be patented.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Patent Applications
• Patent Marketing Services
• Patent Searching Service
• Patent Software

1. Understand what a patent is. Briefly, a patent is a document issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) that grants its owner the right to keep others from making, using or selling an invention for a certain amount of time (currently 17 to 20 years).

2. Understand what a patent does. A patent gives its owner the right to file and recover damages in a lawsuit against any infringer (this can be a person or a company) that makes, uses or sells the invention, or any essential part of it, without first securing permission from the patent owner.

3. Determine what category of patent you need. Patents on useful inventions are called "utility patents" (by far the most common type). Nonfunctional designs and new varieties of plants may also qualify for patents.

4. Determine whether your invention is novel. For your invention to qualify for a patent, the PTO must believe that your invention is different from all previous inventions in some important way.

5. Determine whether your invention is "not obvious." When deciding whether to issue a utility patent, the PTO will ask, "At the time this invention was conceived, would someone skilled in this particular field consider the invention to be an unexpected or surprising development?"

Tips & Warnings

• Use an "inventor's notebook" to carefully document your idea, detailing how and when you came up with it. Also use it to describe your efforts to build and test your invention. Your notebook will be proof of your invention date if someone later claims that they invented it first.

• To get a feel for whether your invention is "obvious," run your idea by someone familiar with the technology and gauge that person's reaction (assuming you have first properly documented your invention - see Warnings). If they say "wow" or its equivalent, you may well be on to something.

• Figuring out whether your idea is suitable for patenting is not an easy task. This short checklist suggests a course of action, but to be successful, you'll have to educate yourself further about patent law.

• The PTO does not grant patents for inventions under the following classes: unsafe new drugs; whimsical inventions lacking serious utility; inventions useful only for illegal purposes such as safecracking or counterfeiting; "immoral" inventions (although this criterion is being phased out); nonoperable inventions such as perpetual motion machines that violate physical laws; nuclear weapons; theoretical phenomena; and aesthetic changes that do not affect operation.

• This information is not intended as a substitute for personalized advice from a knowledgeable lawyer licensed to practice law in your state. For specific, up-to-date advice geared to your specific situation, consult an expert.