Understanding When Multiple Patents Are Needed on the Same Invention When submitting an utility patent for a certain use of, for example, optical sensors, can this certain use of the sensor be protected for ALL types of sensors in the same patent? Or would separate applications have to be filed for different types of sensors?…
How to Patent: Benefits of Provisional Patent The most affordable way to begin the processing of patenting something is to obtain a Provisional Patent. To obtain a Provisional Patent, an inventor (or an attorney acting on behalf of the inventor) must file a description of his invention along with a small fee to the USPTO. Notwithstanding…
A USPTO provisional patent application simply secures your ‘spot in line’ or patent priority date for a patent for one-year under “patent pending” status. After you file a provisional application, you will have one-year to follow with a non-provisional (full) patent application to maintain your patent priority date. It’s important to secure your patent priority…
A patent grants an inventor rights to exclude others from making, using, or selling the idea claimed in the patent for a period of 20 years. A non-provisional patent application begins the examination process to determine if an idea is eligible for patent grant. This examination process (known as “Patent Prosecution”) can be long, highly…
A provisional application for patent is the most cost effective way to begin protecting your invention. It establishes your priority to the patent rights for your invention while you put the finishing touches on it, work up your non-provisional patent application, seek funding and do market research. With a provisional application on file, you can…
A provisional Application for patent may be filed anytime after your invention is created – once you are able to coherently describe how to make and use it. It is recommended that you file a provisional application before you publicly disclose your invention. In this way, you can publicly disclose your invention and put the…
Figures submitted with a provisional application can be informal. A figure can be a hand drawing, a photograph, a CAD illustration, VISIO files, flow charts, block diagrams, or any other type of visualization of your invention. They do not need to contain labels or be referenced to the description portion of your Provisional Patent, though…
The documents you submit will be added in an appendix to your provisional patent upon your request, but this will not be done without your authorization. It is important that you do not disclose any confidential information in your submitted documents. It is also important that you do not disclose anything in your document that…
The USPTO allows you one year from the date of your first public disclosure to file for patent or provisional patent on your idea. This one-year period is known as the ‘grace period’. If you do not file for a patent or provisional patent within one-year of your first public disclosure, you will have been…
Exposing of your idea or invention to the public more than 12 months before you file for patent protection may prevent you from obtaining patent rights to your idea or invention. There a number of ways you could have disclosed your invention to the public in the legal sense – the examples shown here only…
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