Do You Have a Great Idea or Invention? Do You Need a Patent?

A patent is a legal document that protects the ownership of inventions, and prohibits other people from stealing it.

The document covers the majority of the invention such as how it looks, how it works and what materials it is made of. Obtaining a patent is very important if you want to prevent other people creating your invention without your permission.

How to qualify for a patent

To make a patent application your invention must meet strict criteria that will be robustly checked before any rights are granted.

Below are some of the rules your invention must adhere to.

Your invention must be unique and new. Modifying a pre existing product will not suffice.

You must be able to utilise the invention within an industry. Presenting the products uses within the application is required.

You cannot apply for rights for mathematical or scientific discoveries, theories, mental acts, a way of doing business, a way of performing, an animal, a plant and even some computer games.

Where to get help with your application

The list of do's and don'ts goes on. To be sure you have a valid claim for a patent, you could consider using patent application drafting services.

Employing the services of professionals will enable you to get drafted patent specifications done in a professional manner that will boost your confidence and ability to present your invention to potential investors. You may be a great inventor but does your paper work do your work justice? We have all watched episodes of dragons den, when we really feel for the candidates who have great products but they lack the knowledge of their industry or even their figures. By getting someone to help you, your focus can be on the invention without the stress of the paper work.

How to apply for a patent?

A patent application is very detailed and consists of several parts that must be filled in accurately.

Abstract

This is a short summary of the product, this is typically found at the front of a published document. This of this section as your unique selling point.

Description

An overall description of your invention. The description should include all the functions of the invention.

Claims

The claims section is the post vital part of the application. Your patentability will be decided from this section and therefore time should be committed to ensuring it is accurate.

Drawings

Simple 2d, black and white line based drawings of your product should be submitted for reference purposes only.

These drawings on your patent application will not dictate your actual design.

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When To Use Secrecy Instead of a Patent to Protect an Invention

When an inventor has created an innovation, she traditionally patents the idea. Patenting allows her to prevent others from copying her idea for the life of the patent. It also prevents a later inventor who conceives of the idea independently from subsequently patenting the same idea and then preventing the original inventor from using her own invention.

However, there is another option for protecting an invention without filing for a patent, the option of secrecy. Using secrecy to protect an invention, the inventor simply does not disclose the details of the invention by filing a patent application or through publication or other public disclosure.

Secrecy is an effective protection when the important invention cannot be readily discovered. For example, chemical processes are often difficult to discover even if one knows the composition of the final product. The formulas and processes may be difficult to determine, even after expensive experimentation. Similarly, software inventions cannot be reverse engineered if they are kept securely protected on the inventor's own servers.

If another inventor later independently creates and patents the same invention, the original inventor has a defense against a charge of patent infringement because of her prior commercial use of the invention. This defense is available if the original inventor used the invention commercially a least one year before the subsequent inventor either filed the patent application or publicly disclosed the invention prior to patenting the invention. However, if the use was less than a year before the subsequent inventor filed the patent application, then the original inventor has no prior commercial use defense.

Protecting an invention by keeping it secret is probably a risky strategy if one's competitors are pursuing a similar product development strategy. They may develop the same invention and file for protection before a full year of commercial use has established the prior commercial use defense. And they are likely to try if one's own product using the invention is successful. However for inventions that are difficult to discover and that one believes competitors will not discover independently soon, secrecy is an excellent option.

An inventor choosing secrecy should treat the invention as a trade secret, limiting the internal dissemination of information about the invention and marking the information as secret or confidential. The inventor should also rigorously document the earliest date of commercial use.

The biggest advantage of secrecy is that it never expires. However, valuable secrets are often discovered independently and surprisingly quickly by competitors, or they are leaked or stolen. Competitive advantages do not usually go unnoticed and un-duplicated for long.

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