PATENTING - AN OVERVIEW FOR NEW INVENTORS by ResearchCopyright.com

We use copyrights, trademarks, and patents to protect Intellectual Properties for limited periods of time so that the original creator may use them to gain financially. Each of the three protect different types of intellectual work.

Copyrights protect works such as books, films, and music. The terms of copyright have varied through the ages, but currently copyright on a work lasts for the life of the author, plus 70 years after their death. However, if the work was created as a work for hire for a corporation, then the term is 95 years or 120 years after it was first created, whichever comes first.

A trademark is a distinctive mark of authenticity. A company uses a trademark to identify its unique goods from its competitors. A service mark is similar to a trademark but a service mark trademarks a service. Trademarks are commonly used as logos on cans of soda, packages of lunch meat, DVDs of television shows, or just about anything else. Most items created and sold today have a logo that could be trademarked. Most slogans used by anything from fast food franchises to grocery stores to radio stations could possibly be trademarked. For example, the "swoosh" used by Nike to denote their shoes is a registered trademark, as is the distinctive lettering the Coca-Cola company uses on their products.

A patent is used for inventions. Patents grant the inventor the right to use and disseminate their invention for a limited amount of time, usually around 20 years. At the end of the 20 years, anyone is free to use that invention without licensing it from the inventor. Many people use these newly public domain patents to build upon the original invention. There are also a few other things eligible for patent protection, these are patents for genes and drugs.

For the U.S. Patent Office to award you a patent, your object must be new, non-obvious, and useful. Your object also cannot occur naturally in nature. If you create a living being, you might be able to patent it; however, you cannot patent your dog, but if you genetically engineer a species of dog to be different than other dogs in some way, then you may be able to patent it.

You cannot patent a sandwich, no matter how amazing it looks or tastes. If you wrote a descriptive recipe, you can copyright the recipe, but you cannot patent it.

There are three kinds of patents in existence. There are Utility Patents, these are the type most commonly thought of when someone thinks of the word "patent." Utility Patents protect inventions and machines. Design Patents protect against the physical look of something, for example, the way a certain type of Nike shoes looks, or a distinctive style of handbag. Also, the characters in the Star Wars films are protected by this type of patent. The third type of patent is the Plant Patent, this protects invented or discovered plant varieties.

Obtaining a patent is a harder than registering for a copyright in that you have to need to include drawings which show how your product or invention works.

Following from that, the first thing to do regarding getting a patent on your invention would be to do a search of the Patent Office's records to make sure there isn't already a similar item registered. If your invention is deemed to be too similar to a previously existing invention, the patent will not be granted.

Once you have decided to patent your item, you must decide which type of patent you are going to apply for, that would be the Utility, Design, or Plant patents. You can also decide to file either a provisional or non-provisional patent.

Ever since 1995, inventors have had the option to choose a provisional patent for their invention. This type of patent is a bit cheaper than the non-provisional patent. But, there are several limits to this type of patent.

First, this type of patent filing is allowable without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any other type of information disclosure. Technically, the provisional patent allows the inventor to state an earlier file date if the inventor wishes to later file a full, non-provisional patent application.

An instance when it would be useful to file a provisional patent ahead of a non-provisional one would be to test the item's durability in the marketplace and also to protect against imitators.

The provisional patent is valid for one year following its filing and cannot be extended. This is also the type of patent that allows the words "Patent Pending" to be legally stencilled on the invention in question.

If a non-provisional patent application is not filed within the year following the provisional patent application, the invention loses the ability to have the earlier provisional filing date listed in its record. However, if the non-provisional application is sent during the provisional period, and makes reference to the original provisional application, the provisional patent term endpoint may be extended by a maximum of 12 months, at which point the patent term will take effect, as long as a patent is awarded. Of course, with the earlier filing date the provisional patent application affords, the patent term will extend from that earlier date, not the date of the non-provisional application.

When filing a patent application, the main rule to follow would be to "be detailed." Be as detailed as you can be in your application, the part of the application where you describe your invention, and the section where you list the images and drawings of the invention.

If your drawing ability leaves much to be desired, there are many artists willing to draw these drawings for a fee, you just have to find them. There are also several corporations that also do patent drawings. Using your favorite search engine can yield local results, or you can inquire at a craft fair.

Making sure that your application paperwork shows your invention as detailed as possible is also a good idea. There are many worthy inventions that fail their original patent application due to the design drawings and possibly other aspects of the application being too vague.

Companies exist to help would-be patent holders collect the needed material for a winning patent application. Fees for this kind of service vary widely, and it is up to the inventor whether or not they wish to use such an agency or hire a patent attorney. Attorneys are not required to file or receive patents.

Patent applications can be costly. The fee is non-refundable, so getting a a patent application accepted the first time is the outcome to strive for. Do not cut corners. Be detailed. Proofread and check the application over a few times before submitting. Make sure the drawings are clear and follow the guidelines given on the USPTO website succinctly. The waiting period while waiting for a patent to be approved can be tumultuous, but the wait is worth it.