Patents:

*Please be advised that this is merely a short summary of only part of the law on this subject. The law changes on a regular basis and it would be proper to confirm this information with the current statutes now applicable under the law.

Patent Basics

A patent is “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” or “importing” an invention in the United States. Any person who “invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent,” subject to law. A process is an act or method, and primarily includes industrial or technical processes. Articles of manufacture are items that are made, and include all manufactured articles. Compositions of matter may include mixtures of ingredients as well as new chemical compounds.

Generally it takes between 20 months and 36 months to receive a patent. If the patent application passes the examination process successfully it will be allowed as a patent.

Patentability Search

A necessary step, in some situations, before filing a patent application is receiving a patentability search.  This search will reveal whether or not the “idea” is novel and non-obvious and whether or not the “idea” falls into an item of manufacture, composition of matter, process or machine, or an improvement thereof, that is patentable within the statutory guidelines.

 Drawings

Drawings are required to accompany a patent application if they are necessary to understand the invention.  A typical patent application will include 2-3 patent drawings.

Types of Application Filings & Fees with the United States Patent and Trademark Office

Nonprovisional Applications:

Nonprovisional applications include utility (any new process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or useful improvement thereof), design (new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture), and plant (an asexually reproduced new variety of plant) applications.

Once an application for a nonprovisional patent has been made, it goes through a series of “office actions” which a patent examiner will issue and will be replied to by the attorney or agent handling the case.  These office actions will give the patent examiner an opportunity to determine the patents viability and to restrict the claims contained therein, if appropriate. Once the patent office receives the application a patent examiner will review the claims for an invention that complies with Title 35 of the United States Code, including 35 U.S.C. 101, 102, and 103 (usefulness, novel & nonobvious elements).  This begins with a comparison of the claimed subject matter to what is known in the art. If no differences are found between the claimed invention and the prior art, then the claimed invention lacks novelty and is to be rejected by USPTO personnel under 35 U.S.C.102. Once differences are identified between the claimed invention and the prior art, those differences must be assessed and resolved in light of the knowledge possessed by a person of ordinary skill in the art. Against this backdrop, one must determine whether the invention would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to one skilled in the art. If not, the claimed invention satisfies 35 U.S.C. 103. “[S]econdary considerations [such] as commercial success, long felt but unsolved needs, failure of others, etc., might be utilized to give light to the circumstances surrounding the origin of the subject matter sought to be patented. As indicia of obviousness or nonobviousness, these inquiries may have relevancy.”  Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1.

Generally a patent has a term of twenty (20) years from the date of filing.

Provisional Applications:

Another type of application is a provisional application. This application will receive a filing date when the specification and drawings are received and remains in effect for twelve (12) months, in which time a nonprovisional patent application must be filed to retain the priority filing date. A provisional application is not examined, placed in interference, or made subject to statutory registration.

A basic review of some aspects of the patent specification is located here: Patent Specifcation Info.

Fees for applications are provided by the USPTO here.