Here’s 7 Things to know about Patent Rights – #4 is what most people DON’T know, #1 is the most important to know, and #7 reflects a recent change to our patent laws. Our Patent laws have seen some fundamental changes with the recently enacted America Invents Act. Whether you have a large patent portfolio…
The newly enacted Patent Laws make patents more important to obtain and more enforceable to carry. Best of all, in the midst of big corporate world’s patent cold war, the new Patent Laws open a door to let startups and early-stage companies join the battlefield on even ground. Here’s how. The America-Invents-Act (AIA) created a first-to-file standard…
How would an entrepreneur go about patenting a newly discovered material? Say if they were to discover a room temperature superconductor, a discovery that would affect life as we know it. The first question you must ask is whether this superconductor exists in nature, or whether you had to create a special environment to foster its existence….
The standard for submitting drawings in a provisional patent application is rather simple. Ask yourself, are these drawings necessary for “one of ordinary skill in the field of my invention” to understand what it is that I am trying to patent. If the answer is NO, then you don’t need drawings in a provisional at all. If…
Most of us like to feel that we were the first to have conceived of our great idea. Before investing the time and resources into applying for a patent, it is good to know if there are any other patents or publications disclosing something similar to your idea. Ultimately, this information will help you and…
In order to transfer patent rights from an inventor (Assignor) to an entity (Assignee), the inventor must sign an assignment agreement. Upon execution, the assignment agreement become a legally binding and enforceable contract. With the assignment, each inventor transfers the patent rights embodied in the patent or patent application to the Assignee. In turn,the Assignee…
Let’s say you came up with a novel design for a boombox or a watch. Although this newly designed boombox or watch may be ‘inventive’ from the utilitarian standpoint, a utility patent may not protect the physical design of your product as it would protect the corresponding function. This article considers protecting product designs that may be functional, but…
If you’re trying to write a patent application on your own,please take caution – it has been my experience that almost all of the inventors who attempt to prepare and file their own application end up never obtaining any patent rights and inadvertently forfeiting their invention to the public domain. Use this guide as an outline of…
Now, when you file a non-provisional application, you have a choice of whether or not you want the application to be made available to the public for review (i.e., published). If the application is published, but you are not granted a patent, the subject matter of your application enters the public domain. If you choose…
You’ve been working on a novel technology. Due to the positive impact of my technology, you get new connections and they are willing to collaborate with you all the time. Since you have not filed a patent on it yet, you are concerned of protecting your IP and scared of disclosing any of your secret…
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