What Inventors Should Know About the Patent Reform Act

Experienced inventors exist in great numbers. They’ve most likely filed a number of patent applications and know generally how patent filing works. Nevertheless, with growing technologies and changes to invention paradigms, the US government has had to keep patent law up-to-date. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) often has rule changes, and they do their best to inform the public what the changes are. However, every now and then the US Congress makes large changes to patent law. In 2007, the Patent Reform Act was reported, containing many alterations to patent rules. A summary of the changes are listed.

The First-to-File Rule

Prior to 2007, the United States was the only country in the world that would evaluate patent applications in the order of the creation of the invention, rather than the date of patent filing. The change introduced here would make the USPTO evaluate patent applications chronologically based on the date of filing. The benefits of doing this would be to a) conform to international processes of patent handling and b) reduce legal costs and court time related to the length of each evaluation. Opponents to this change see a potential problem of inventors rushing through patent applications in order to file their patents earlier than competitors.

Approximation of Damages

In the past, inventors who recognized patent infringement could sue the infringer for royalties equal to the amount that their whole invention could sell for. In the Patent Reform Act of 2007, a change was made to this rule: the patent holder would only be able to claim royalties for the invention they created, and not the sales related to the improvements that the infringers made. This clarification was made in order to reduce the amount of frivolous litigation that has been apparent in recent years with high-technology instrumentation and software. Those opposed to the changes claim that the market value of the changes would be difficult to estimate, and would tie up the courts longer when a patent infringement case occurs.

Inventors Oath Changes

In any patent application, there is an oath that an inventor must sign to declare that the application is true to the best of his or her knowledge. The Patent Reform Act adds leniency to this rule. If the inventor is dead or disabled, and cannot sign the application, an assignee can sign the patent application in the inventor’s absence.

Interlocutory Appeals

Large companies who are frequently targeted legally during the patent process are always looking for ways to reduce their legal costs. With this change, a case which revolves around an incorrect interpretation of a patent can avoid a full appeal which leads to a second trial. Due to the fact that around two-thirds of incorrect interpretations are found through a full trial, an interlocutory appeal would increase courtroom availability. Although this idea would shorten court time, the interlocutory appeal would have to come from the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, and would take up a significant chunk of their time.

Third Party Opposition

Anytime a patent is issued, it’s unclear how the patent will affect the world around it. As a result, the Patent Reform Act changes the rules so that an opponent to a particular patent can file an infringement lawsuit up to twelve months after the patent was granted, assuming that the patent caused the person or group significant economic harm. Arguments made against this change focus on the idea that twelve months was too much time, and would allow for frivolous lawsuits. The change also proposes the creation of a new part of the USPTO, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, who would look over these legal actions.

Prior Use Defense

Before 2007, the prior-use defense, which protects companies from losing revenue gained before a patent or trademark was issued to them, was only applied to business methods. While this rule could essentially invalidate the purpose of the patent, it favors small businesses that do not have the know-how about patenting their trade secrets. In the Patent Reform Act, the prior-use defense is applied to all types of patents issued by the USPTO.

These were the most crucial changes to patent law introduced by the bills. Currently the Patent Reform Act is still being evaluated by the Senate, but in general, the support of these changes is significant.

Pharmaceutical Patent Application Specifics

In your laboratory, you and your colleagues have developed a novel new drug that has shown promise in some clinical trials. Chances are you’ve burned through many millions of dollars of venture capital in order to get this compound on the market. You know you’ve got quite a bit of steps left to convince the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that your compound is viable, and that can quite easily saturate your mind. What you don’t want to forget about is that once your compound is approved by the FDA, it’ll be open for reproduction. Generic companies will want to sell it for cheap. Since they didn’t put the work into discovering the compound, they shouldn’t reap the initial revenue from selling it. Therefore, you’ll need to get a patent on that compound.

When it comes to inventing a drug, the regular rules of patent protection are slightly more complicated. First of all, a patent on a drug lasts 20 years. The 20 years is guaranteed so you can replenish your company’s resources, please shareholders and potentially explore another drug paradigm. After the 20 years has expired, generic companies can easily get hold of your compound and sell the compound to consumers at a greatly reduced price. You won’t be able to capitalize on your invention nearly as much.

Unlike other inventions, novel chemical entities (NCEs) as drugs must be characterized in a patent application by particular chemical properties. Describing the NCE’s purpose is not necessary, as it is in the FDA approval process. Instead, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is more interested about what makes it novel. There are particular characteristics of the compound that it is most interested in:

1) If it is an analog of a previously patented compound: particularly if it is an isomeric, enantiomeric or crystalized version.

2) If its solubility and particle size is conducive to its bioavailability. Smaller, more soluble compounds are considered favorably by the USPTO.

3) If the compound can be separated into ‘selection patents’, where a particular group of atoms – or a selection – of a compound can be considered novel. In many cases where compounds are developed using combinatorial chemistry, ‘selection patents’ may be applicable.

4) If the compound produces particular metabolites in the body. If it does, and the metabolite has not yet been characterized by the USPTO, there may be an opportunity to both patent the compound and the metabolite it forms.

5) If it requires a prodrug. Prodrugs are active compounds in an organism that can work with a compound to produce a therapeutic response. If a prodrug is involved, then many inventors choose to include it on the patent application.

In addition to clarifying these chemical properties, inventors of NCEs may be able to patent already-existing drugs by changing certain characteristics of them. For instance, a dosage change on an already existing drug may treat another malady. Or, perhaps an inventor discovered an easier, more cost-effective way to produce a natural product artificially. In any case, these method changes, dosage changes or any other changes must be properly described on the patent application. It’s always good measure to be very fluent in describing chemical properties and formulation terminologies before you attack a patent application. It may be beneficial when going after that drug patent to contact a pharmaceutical patent lawyer to make sure you’ve covered all bases. Your investors will most likely celebrate that decision.

All about Patenting a Business Method

Just about everyone in the United States has been on – or at least seen – the web. Internet marketing, although it’s only been around for around twenty years, seems like it’s been around for much longer than that. The internet bubble has burst, and companies that are selling on the web have settled down and have grown their reputations. Amazon, iTunes, and many other similar companies have gone through their adolescence and have established themselves as businesses ready for the long haul. What many people don’t know about these companies is that they have patents related to their simple web applications. Amazon’s one-click ordering method is unprecedented and something that many other web businesses admire and aspire to. Even online prescription refilling is a rather new and fascinating mechanism. These are well-protected trade secrets, but there’s no telling if a disgruntled employee or a computer hacker could get hold of the programming behind the method. That’s where patents come in.

Many think that a patent can only be granted to machinery. The cotton gin, the television and the cellular phone all have been patented. However, there are many things that can be patented, including business methods like the ones listed above. Companies that develop these methods can own the exclusive intellectual property rights for them for 17 years. That may not seem like a very long time, but in today’s rapidly changing world, new technologies are being developed all the time that would make the methods seem retro in comparison. Although business methods seem to be vastly different from machines, they do fall under the same classification in the universe of patenting: a utility patent is what the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will grant an inventor that develops them. In general, both a machine and a business method complete a utility, so in essence, they’re very similar. A key difference between the device-related patent and the business method-related patent is that the business method could only be considered exclusive intellectual property after 1998.

Entrepreneurs today are often looking to the web for marketing an idea. They may have a new software application or feature that they’d like to unveil to the public, and plan to do so on the internet. When they go about it, they must be careful that it doesn’t get copied. Obtaining a utility patent for their business method is the best way to protect their idea. The utility patent can be used for a business method in two ways: a) to allow a business method to effectively and safely compete against a possibly inferior program; and b) to protect a business method from infringing on someone else’s discovery. You’ll notice that on the internet there are many ways of displaying ads. Two advertising business methods that are always in competition with each other are pop-up advertising and scroll-over advertising. Although both types of business methods may be generally accomplishing the same thing, they are fundamentally different in their methods and the patent owners for either one won’t have to sue for intellectual property infringement.

Like any other invention, a business method can get a patent if the following conditions are true:

1. The business method must be original. That means it cannot significantly resemble any other technology that has been patented in the past. Paradigms can be copied, but there must be enhancements included in the new business method.

2. The business method must be useful. There isn’t a purpose to granting a patent on an item that won’t be thought of again. For example, you may develop a program that displays pictures of toasters all over your screen, but what would the point of protecting that program be?

3. The business method must be non-obvious. Non-obvious is a patent buzzword that means that a person who might have some general knowledge about the discovery wouldn’t be easily able to come up with the idea themselves.

4. The business method must be realistic. All existing laws of nature must be followed. This may seem a bit strange, but the USPTO cannot issue a patent if there’s no regulation that goes along with the science behind it: the patent would be nearly impossible to enforce.

Before the application for a business patent can be approved, fees must be paid and an examination of the marketplace must be conducted to see if the business method already exists. Once it’s finished, the patent can be granted and protect a business method.

All about Design Patents

Chances are, somewhere close to where you’re seated, you’ve got a box full of CDs. Take a look through them. If you’re like the average computer user, you’ve got CDs sitting in plastic cases that are square or round, made of hard plastic or soft plastic. Some are yellow, some are clear, and some cases they may even be made of paper. The utility of a CD case is the same: to cover the CD so outside sources do not scratch or ruin it. Nevertheless, all of these variations on the general CD case most likely have different patents for their design, based on a single, previously filed utility patent.

A design patent, in the most simple of terms, is assigned to a fundamental decorative change to an object that does not change its overall usage. To understand how a design patent differs from a utility patent, consider a simple pair of black sunglasses, which has been patented. An inventor that decides to change the sunglasses so that they are rounder with green rims would be granted a design patent. An inventor that adds nose clips to make the glasses more comfortable would be granted a utility patent.

Similar to any other patent, a design patent specifically protects the product from being sold or imported by any unauthorized individuals. The design patent is only held by the US Patent and Trademark Office for 17 years. This is less than the 20 years granted to a utility patent, but the design patent holder will not need to keep the patent alive by paying regular fees. What’s more is the application itself is much simpler to fill out. There’s no need to clarify what the usage of the patent is, or draw out the creation’s functionality. The USPTO does require the patent applicant to describe how it’s original and ornamental. The application must compare the invention to prior-art, or patented products that may look very similar to the creation. What the USPTO is most concerned with is the quality of the pictures representing the aesthetic changes, and they expect the pictures to be thorough. They react favorably to applications containing photographs in this case.

Design patents can be difficult to differentiate from utility patents sometimes. An ornamental change may arguably also be a utility change. In addition, a first time designer may be confused about whether they need to apply for a patent, a trademark or a copyright. It’s likely they’ve seen all in use and associated to something decorative, so they may think initially that their invention may require one of the three, or maybe all three. What they will need to consider is that a decorative change to an existing item cannot fit the definition of a trademark because a trademark refers to the name associated to a product. It also cannot fit the definition of a copyright if it isn’t related to a type of document.

Some of the lesser known things that could arguably earn a design patent are fonts and computer icons. In fact, the very first design patent to be granted was on a font. Both computer fonts and icons, in order to be patented, must be actively used. In any case, if you’re an artist and have a fantastic idea about how to make a product more marketable, you may find that applying for a patent will be one of the greatest things you’ve ever done.

Software Patents Across the World

When people think of inventions, their minds often travel to the likes of Thomas Edison or Alexander Graham Bell, who invented two of the most important machines in history. What they don’t realize is that the big money in patenting and inventions is now intelligence-based. Things like pharmaceuticals, chemical processes and software can all be patented. Patents for these items have been prolific during the past thirty years.

Software is perhaps the most challenging of all inventions that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has had to regulate. There are so many variations on software creation that the rules seem endless. In fact, the USPTO’s regulations are different from those found in other worldwide patent organization. Are you looking to patent some of your software? You’ll need to consider the different methods of obtaining a patent across the globe.

The United States

One of the first software patents obtained came from the groundbreaking US Supreme Court decision for the case Diamond vs. Diehr, in 1981. In it, the Supreme Court decided that a computer process invented to improve the quality of cured rubber could be patented. This decision, along with other landmark decisions, brought the USPTO to a patent-regulation revolution: how can software be patented? Put quite simply, the definition of a software patent is muddy. Due to the many different kinds of software out there, many different languages, the opportunities for new software paradigms are endless. Therefore, arguably a software patent can be given to any new computerized business system that’s useful and tangible. The USPTO will always be enforcing its general requirements for inventions; particularly the software must be significantly different from prior art and must have a clear use. Some famous software patents include Google’s web searching algorithm or Amazon.com’s frequent buyer program.

Europe

Although Europe has formed an international organization dedicated to regulating European patents – the European Patent Office (EPO) – it does not currently have a clear definition of what is eligible for a software patent. In 1973, the European Patent Convention – which created the EPO – indicated very clearly that the EPO cannot allow for patents on computers or computer programs. The United Kingdom is not part of the EPO, but its patent office follows similar rules. Nonetheless, due to the ubiquity of software programs and the likelihood of intellectual property being copied, rules in these countries are being reexamined.

Japan

Like the United States and countries in Europe, Japan has a very lucrative software market. As a result, the country has taken steps to protect software-related intellectual property. Unlike the strict rules found in Europe, Japan has set up very clear and very easy-to-follow patent rules for software and for any related hardware. Many companies who have difficulty protecting their software creations in Europe go to Japan to obtain a patent.

India

In the past two decades, the software industry in India has grown exponentially. As a result, the demand for software patenting has become so defined that pressure grew on the Indian Patent Office to support such patents. Nevertheless, India made the decision to regulate software similar to the ways that Europe does, with one minor change: a software application itself – not the purpose of the application – can be patented.

Although there is no concrete method for patenting software across the globe, an inventor would find it best to search international databases to see if their idea has been patented in some way, shape or form. It may prevent a headache or two.

Frequently Asked Questions about Patents

Getting a patent isn’t an easy process. There are many factors to consider and the average inventor may be concerned about making a mistake due to ignorance. Listed are a number of commonly asked questions about patents.

Q: What is a patent?

A: A patent is a protection of intellectual property granted by a national governing body over a period of time.

Q: Who can obtain a patent?

A: Virtually anyone can obtain a patent, assuming that they are the owner or inventor of an idea that is original, useful and has not yet been patented.

Q: Why should I obtain a patent?

A: If you’ve invented a product and have begun to market it, it’s very likely that an opportunist may copy your product and sell it at a competitive rate. A patent will ensure that the invention is yours and it stays yours for quite awhile, and that you or the owner of the patent are the only ones who can capitalize on its existence in the marketplace.

Q: How do I get a patent?

A: A patent can be obtained from your country’s patent office. In the United States, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is in charge of issuing patents. They have an extensive website where you can download an application and instructions about how to fill out an application. A completed application must be turned in to the USPTO along with the payment of a fee. This will ensure that your invention will be reviewed for patent approval.

Q: When will my patent expire?

A: A patent will expire a number of years after the filing date. Depending on the type of patent you filed, the expiry date could be anywhere from 14 to 20 years in the United States.

Q: I’ve invented something on my company’s time, using my company’s resources. Whose name will appear on the patent application?

A: Yours. You are responsible for the completion of a patent application and the signature on the application must match your own.

Q: A partner of mine and I developed an invention that we’d like to patent. How do we fill out the patent application so that we both own the patent?

A: There is a patent application available to those who would like to share the responsibility for a patent. However, this can only be used if the invention contains the ideas of both parties.

Q: I’ve invented something great and I’ve already started to manufacture and sell it. However, I didn’t think to get a patent for the item. What happens if someone steals my idea?

A: The best move for you to take is to immediately file a patent application for the idea. If the patent is approved, it’s likely that you can sue for patent infringement using the ‘prior-use’ defense. At article generation time, the prior-use defense could only be used for business methods in the United States, but the government is looking to validate it for all patent types.

Q: I’ve heard that it’s possible to file for international intellectual property protection. Is this true?

A: Yes and no. When you file your patent application, your country will be in charge of determining whether the invention is patent-worthy, and your patent will be good in your country only. However, there are international treaties that define laws that can be enforced if someone in another country infringes on your patent.

Q: How can I make sure that my invention isn’t infringing on anyone else’s patent?

A: In order to make sure you’re making something original, you’ll need to conduct market research. Patent lawyers and agents can help you out with that. In addition, there are databases available via the web that you can search to determine what inventions out there are like yours.

Q: How much does getting a patent cost?

A: There are two costs involved with getting a patent. First of all, when you file a patent application, you will need to pay a fee to cover the costs of evaluation. Secondly, in most cases, there is a fee involved with keeping a patent alive. The fee is paid to the government body that issues the patent.

Can Your Idea Be Patented

It’s very likely that you’ve dreamt vividly about interesting concoctions, and might have had a fleeting desire to take the idea into reality. It’s also very likely that during one of your couch potato moments, you came across a commercial for a product that you wish you had thought of. And, it’s also likely that you have thought about how you could create something to make your life or your family’s life easier, and then had seen someone else capitalize on the idea afterward. If all three of these phenomena have come true, then you might benefit from thinking about trying your hand at invention.

Great inventors are both perceptive – they recognize when and where an improvement could be used – and resourceful. One of the world’s most famous inventors, Dean Kamen, watched people close to him go to the hospital regularly to have drugs delivered over a period of hours. This led him to develop the drug delivery pump, which is widely used today. Although not every idea is going to be well-received – many inventors go through a number of inventions before they have a successful one – just the practice of inventing something can increase your skills with originality.

Nevertheless, an aspiring inventor must be realistic about what he or she can patent. If the inventor is looking to reinvent the wheel, he or she will most likely be disappointed by failure. Things like time travel, teleportation, and other science-fiction advents aren’t things that can be patented. If the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has not put regulations in place for a particular invention, you won’t be able to get the idea patented. Since science has not come far enough to allow for things like teleportation machines, it’s safe to say that the USPTO has not set up regulations for them. In addition, although genetic engineering has brought about a whole new world of potential creatures, the USPTO has no regulations set up for patenting clones, and will not accept them.

This leaves a veritable cornucopia of things you can patent. The amateur or professional physicist or engineer may create something that could be considered a machine or a product that can be manufactured. An example of a successful machine that has been patented is the surge protector: it takes a technology that’s already in use, and compounds on it. Keep in mind that if a new paradigm in power is invented, this cannot be patented.

The chemists who play it safe but can create new substances used in cleaning, lubricating or just about anything else can get a patent. One very recognizable name in substances is Oxyclean, which is heavily advertised on television. Even the popular drink Gatorade was patented in 1967.

Finally, a particular process or method can be patented. This could be a chemical method to treat wood so that it can be used for a particular operation, or it could be a process that cleanly prints on unorthodox surfaces.

In addition, if you invent the next big product and want to ‘reinvent’ it so it’s got more appeal, the enhancement can be patented. One example of this is the recent generation of the sweetener Splenda, which was recently released with added fiber.

In any case, the opportunities the aspiring inventor has to patent something are as endless as the drive for the inventor to create.

Why to Get a Patent Lawyer

An inventor may have an idea, but the process of getting the idea patented takes quite a bit of work. He or she must determine if the idea has been thought of already, must produce a convincing argument that it’s an original creation and must be ready to classify the invention based on US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regulations. An inventor may be turned off to the idea of getting a patent for this reason. Nevertheless, going through with developing the invention and marketing it could lead to others reproducing the idea and the original inventor losing revenue. A patent protects that from happening.

In order to avoid having to navigate through complicated patent laws and regulations, it may be beneficial to hire a patent attorney to help out. A patent attorney is very knowledgeable about patent law and is certified to specifically work on patents by the USPTO. In addition, in a lot of cases, patent attorneys have backgrounds in science and engineering, so they know quite a bit about inventions in both fields. In addition, they can handle matters beyond patents for the inventor, including copyrights they may need for information about their product, or trademarks for the business that could be formed from the invention.

Choosing a patent lawyer may be difficult. There are over 28,000 patent attorneys and about 9,000 patent agents in the United States today. Many specialize in particular types of patents, whether they happen to be for machinery, software, pharmaceuticals or even for organisms. Many inventors use the internet to search for the right patent lawyer. The USPTO has a search engine that will let the inventor find patent lawyers that are geographically closest to them, and websites like Findlaw contain directories of patent lawyers and law firms to browse through. Be sure to research the lawyer by asking them how many cases they’ve taken on, what their specialty is, what services they can provide, etc. In addition, if you know people who are in an industry that produces similar products to your invention, you may want to consult with them to find a good attorney.

Usually the services a patent lawyer provides are concrete. They know the USPTO very well and work with them on a regular basis. They will be able to use contacts in the USPTO to expedite the patent filing process. They will be able to assist you with filling out the application so that there aren’t mistakes. They will be able to take your idea and write it up into a description that follows the rules of the USPTO. They will clarify just how to construct drawings of your creation so that they are clear and properly show what your creation can do. They will warn you what to expect once the patent has been filed. Finally, they will be able to hold your hand once the patent has either been accepted or rejected.

Yes, patent lawyers are not inexpensive. Their fees vary, but usually they fall in the $5,000-$10,000 range. However, if you decide not to get a patent lawyer, there are many opportunities for the inventor to make a mistake. Their patent may become delayed or rejected because the application was not in its best form. Investment in a patent attorney is very likely to be returned in the long run.

About Invention Company Scams

Throughout history, the spread of literacy and the advent of engineering made intellectual discovery become a significantly defined part of reality. Engineering is the root of all invention, and inventors first came along when scientific discoveries were published and printed throughout the world. At first, there weren’t many early inventors. Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Leonardo da Vinci were considered invention pioneers. However, now that the world has gotten metaphorically smaller and knowledge about the world has become larger, inventors have become much more common than they were even 100 years ago.

Even though invention has been a popular activity, about only ten percent of patentable inventions are marketed successfully. In fact, if you are considering going down the road to get a patent, you may be turned off by the idea that your invention may never be widely used. Nowadays, though, you can find an expert at just about anything by just searching for it. If you do search for someone who can help your invention become popular, you’ll likely fall upon a large list of invention companies. Invention companies claim to help your invention get off the ground. However, very often, these invention companies are only interested in getting paid money that’s not owed to them.

Usually these companies are very attractive at first. They provide colorful brochures describing what it is that they can do for you, the inventor. They list patents that they had worked on and have shown success. They offer an invention kit – which contains a summary of the services that they will offer to you – and a place where they can be reached. If you contact them with a general idea about what your invention is, they will be very quick about getting back to you with their invention marketing plan.

This is the first point in which you could get scammed. They will compliment your invention, and claim that it has enormous potential to bring in large amounts of revenue. They’ll state that they’ll help you with the patent application, which, to many new inventors, can take a load of stress off their hands. They’ll say that they will run a search for patents that are similar to yours, and will make sure that your invention will be suitable to get a patent. In order to do this, they’ll ask you to pay a fee which is usually in the hundreds of dollars. If an inventor sends in the money, it’s very likely they won’t see it again.

Some inventor marketing companies will actually do a patent search for you. However, the search will be monumentally smaller than what a patent lawyer or a respected patent search firm could accomplish for you. The company will send back to you their search results, which are usually trumped by more marketing material that claims that your invention will go far when it’s taken into their hands. They’ll ask for more money – usually around $10,000 – to file a patent application, help with licensing, and market the invention using brochures and displays at trade shows. In addition to the up-front fee, the invention marketing company will indicate that they’ll require royalty fees in the ballpark of 10-15%.

When they get paid the fee, what they will really do is list your invention on a website or in a database. They may display it at trade shows, but the trade shows will be few and far between. They will, however, send you updates about its success, and in some cases, they may spin the success to sound better than it is. In this case, they may go on to say that the invention is so good that they expect it to make an exorbitant amount of money, and they’ll need a down payment on their royalties so that they can properly market it. This down payment can also be into the many thousands of dollars, and you won’t see any return on your investment.

The web is an excellent place to check up on inventor marketing companies to see if they are scams. It’s always important to determine just how many customers they’ve had and to get customer feedback. The Better Business Bureau also has quite a bit of resources available to the inventor looking to avoid scams.

How the PCT Can Help an Inventor

The United States is considered the melting pot of the world. Different upbringings, races, classes and ethnicities define what the United States is as a society. The innovation that can be found in such a diverse people as the United States means that their creations are equally as widespread. As a result, Americans invent hundreds of thousands of new things every year, inventions that are useful worldwide. The strides in the field of communication have made the global economy accessible to anyone who wishes to market a product. However, the complexity of inventions and the nearly infinite marketplace can make an entrepreneur wary about introducing a new product. He or she can create a new item and file for a patent in his or her home country, but what will guarantee that someone on the other side of the world hasn’t already patented the idea? Well, in 1970, a conference in Washington was held to address that problem. The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) stemmed from the conference and was brought into force on January 21, 1978. To date, 139 countries have agreed to abide by the treaty.

The PCT procedure, also known as the international procedure, is a method by which an inventor can obtain intellectual property protection for a patent in a number of countries. In order for your patent to be examined by the international procedure, you must fill out a patent application. The PCT application is slightly different from the patent application in your home country, and is available through the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva. You will need to indicate which countries you would like to have your patent application submitted for. Once you’ve filled the application out and submitted it, your application will be put through two phases, the national phase and the international phase. The international phase is the period in which the application is filed through your home country’s patent office. The national phase follows the international phase, and constitutes the period that the application is forwarded on to the patent offices in the countries that you indicated you wanted intellectual property protection from.

There are certain rules about filing a PCT application. First of all, you must file the application once and in your home country only. The PCT application must be filed in the same language that was used in your regular patent application. You must also pay a fee for each country that you’d like to review the application, up to five countries.

Once your application is submitted, an International Searching Authority is assigned to the PCT application to determine if prior-art exists that matches the invention. The authority will write an opinion during the international phase about the patentability of your invention and whether it would be worth entering the national phase in the countries that were specified on the application. The national phase will require an investment from the inventor in order to cover filing fees in each country and translation fees if applicable.

An inventor has the option to exercise the PCT application up to 31 months following the filing date of the initial national patent application. This will leave the inventor extra time to obtain a national patent and observe what the manufacture of the new product will bring. If word spreads overseas and generates interest in the product, then it may be ideal for the inventor to submit a PCT application.

Get a Patent without Using a Lawyer

For the average inventor, getting the willpower and drive to patent and manufacture an invention can be a difficult process. There are many obstacles that can frighten the innovator and may cause he or she to put a device, process or concoction somewhere it collects metaphorical dust. It’s no secret that becoming a successful inventor is as challenging – if not more than – as starting your own business. In fact, you may find that you have to start your own business to promote the product. Therefore, you’ll need to have a large monetary base to get your product out.

One place that commands a significant amount of money is the field of patent law. To the novice inventor, the idea of going through the patent application process – including paying the non-refundable fees, obtaining the correct terminology, following the correct rules and making sure that the invention hasn’t been reproduced – can be extremely daunting. Patent lawyers can often help out with this process monumentally. Patent lawyers are available all over the world and can be considered a tremendous investment for the inventor who has deep pockets. However, you may have the next revolutionary machine and not a lot of money to spend to make sure no one else claim it’s theirs. What can you do? The following is a set of steps you can take to avoid having to shell out $5,000 and up for a patent lawyer.

First: Can your invention be protected?

You know what your invention can do. You know how it is similar or different to the products you have seen marketed every day. However, you must be sure that a) it isn’t too close in functionality to another invention and b) that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) can legitimately understand why it’s a unique product. In order to do this, you’ll need to do two things. First of all, run a search through the USPTO database to see if other inventions that are closely like yours exist. List how they’re similar and how they’re different. Be sure that when you fill out your patent application, you compare and contrast these inventions to your own and be clear about why yours fills a niche that the others do not. Secondly, learn what different classifications of inventions exist for the USPTO. This will help you fit your invention into a place where regulations exist.

Second: Is your invention modern?

When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, it was revolutionary and it made him a household name. Today, if you were to go to the patent office with a new version of a light bulb that did not improve on his original invention, you may be shot down. Yes, you may have a novel idea, but if it couldn’t be found useful when compared to similar products that exist today, but if the USPTO doesn’t find it modern, then it may reject your application to patent it.

Third: Can your invention be commercialized?

You can pretty much tell what a marketable invention is by watching mail order commercials. Things like towels that hold ten times their weight and high-volume vegetable slicers are quick and easy sellers, whose patents were well-earned. If you have an invention you’re proud of, but you’re not sure if it will sell, it may be best to do a little market research. The best place to start with this research is to find what’s called ‘prior art’, which include inventions that are close to yours which you may have improved upon. If your invention doesn’t have enough appeal so that it could potentially grab market share from prior art, then it probably won’t get a patent.

Fourth: Can you fill out the paperwork?

In order to have a patent approved, you must be able to fill out a patent application successfully. This application will require quite a bit of information, including descriptions of the functionality of your invention, why it should be given a patent, and quality drawings of the invention and how it works. Instructions about how to fill out patent applications are widely available in libraries and on the web, so become familiar with USPTO terminology and rules before trying to fill the application out.

Although it can be tough when you first become an inventor to get your product patented, it’s a wonderful experience. Avoid paying for a lawyer and pave your own way to a patent!

How to Conduct Market Research

Every inventor interested in patenting their creation is curious about whether their idea has been developed before. Another question that may roll around in their head is “will the public really want to use my creation?” To answer these two important questions, the inventor must conduct market research.

Market research, to someone who is untrained in marketing, may sound tedious and difficult to do. Nevertheless, just about any one has the faculties to do market research. The first step in doing your research is to ask many questions about what you’re looking to find. This brainstorming process will get you geared up to delve through many sources to answer the questions.

Market research is best done in phases. The first phase is focused on obtaining information. At this point, it’s best that you sit down in front of a computer and surf the web, or visit your library to review periodicals and trade journals related to your invention. The bites of information that should be most important to you are what your idea could be sold for and at what volume it should be manufactured at. When you decide to sell it, these numbers will give you a good estimation about how to sell it.

Other important pieces of information include who your target audience will be, where they live, how your advertising will reach them, what time period will they buy the item, and how many they’d be in the market to purchase. These tidbits of knowledge sometimes do turn up for free by market research firms, which can be doubly valuable to you. If a market research firm isn’t involved, you can draw your own conclusions, which is far, far better than going about selling your product without any market knowledge at all.

Once you’ve gathered information about similar products to yours, you must consider the trends of the overall marketplace. If you plan to sell during a speculated recession, you should expect not to get much return on your investment. If a cure for diabetes has recently been discovered, then your sugar-free treat invention probably won’t sell as well as you’d like. It’s very difficult to predict what the market trends will be like during the early stages of an invention’s life, but it’s useful to get idea of general feel of the market at first and alter any expectations you may have as the market morphs.

Another part of market trend measurement is the evaluation of competitor success. The average corporation today is in a constant state of change. If a competitor of yours has shown steady growth in their revenue, the trend could be a good sign that selling a similar product will result in equally high profits. If the competitor has shown a decline in profits, then it’s up to you to find out why. It could easily mean that the popularity of their product has gone downhill for a very good reason, one that may affect the sale of your product.

Market research may be difficult if your invention is not like any others that exist out there. Still, you want to do research to ensure that it hasn’t been patented before and didn’t sell. Again, trade journals and periodicals are the best place to evaluate this. It may be best to visit a college library that has a good journal selection to explore to get this information, because buying articles online can be very expensive. Nevertheless, there is always a vast amount of free information available on the web to peruse through. Be sure to know your favorite search engine and use it!

Avoiding Patent Reproduction

First time inventors often have a lot of questions that need answering. “What paperwork do I need to file?” “Should I get a patent lawyer?” “How much money will I need to sell my product?” “How do I determine if my invention already exists?”

All of these are legitimate questions. However, before you pursue getting a patent, arguably the most important question is the latter: “How do I determine if my invention already exists?” Luckily, in the present, there are a number of ways to make sure you haven’t reproduced someone else’s patented creation. Whether you’re an independent inventor or are in charge of making sure that your company’s many new technologies are recognized by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), you can use similar methods to determine if you could be making a copycat product. In addition, if you’ve made a career out of inventing, there are many sources available to stay on top of recent patents filed so you know what trends and technologies are fashionable and marketable.

The first place to look for filed patents is in online databases. The advent of the internet has brought with it a number of places online where information about patents that are currently in filing process or have been granted can be obtained. Such websites as Patentmonkey, Freepatentsonline, Wikipatents, or espacenet contain extensive databases of patents filed by many sources. While these websites are arguably good quality, they don’t always update recent patent activity. If a patent has been bought or sold, or if patents have been based upon prior creations, it’s likely that sort of information has not been updated in the databases, and when you go to file a patent, you may come across some surprises.

One way to ward off these unexpected obstacles is to expand your search. You could, for example, run a patent search on a number of these websites to see if there are any changes to the patents listed in one database and not the other. You could also compare your results to the information that the USPTO database has, which is also accessible online. Nevertheless, if a patent has been filed via a PCT – an international patent application – you may need to expand your search.

You can start by looking at court cases in the United States. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit offers a website where you can search for cases related to patents. The information available is comprehensive and is kept very much up to date. Another great national website is the Kuester Law Technology Law Resource website. This center for intellectual property includes news about patenting, intellectual property lawmaking, and pertinent inventions that could be of interest to you as an inventor.

If you’re more interested in obtaining an international patent, there are also a number of places you can check for prior creations. One is the Hieros Gamos website, which contains a well-populated international directory of lawyers, legal jobs, court cases, articles and any other legal-related information one may need. This website is quite thorough, and it may be difficult to navigate at first, but some may find that this is the best one-stop-shop on the web for patent review. If you find Hieros Gamos to be too thorough, you can run a search through the World Intellectual Property Association. Unlike Hieros Gamos, this website is targeted for those who are only interested in the patenting process.

You can also go to patenting websites of other countries. China, Canada, Australia, even the European Union have their own patent databases to review. If you choose to file an international patent, the searches will be done regardless of this process, and they can take up to sixteen months to complete. Therefore, although doing the searches on your own through a number of web portals may take some time, it’ll save quite a bit of time if your invention has already been patented.

Why to Try Your Hand at Inventing

How many times have you actually paid attention to all the things that surround you? Take your eyes away from the computer for a moment and take a good look at all the items that you can see from your chair. You’ll see a computer mouse. You’ll see a lamp, containing a light bulb. You’ll see a plastic bottle with a cap that contains a label and some soda. All of the things around you are monumentally more complicated than they appear. The objects did not appear out of thin air. A person or team of people had to think about the object, had to draw out a plan to create the object, and had to find a way to manufacture it.

Those people are called inventors. In history class, you’ve probably heard your teacher or professor ramble on about the historical importance of invention and they may have touched on some of the most legendary inventions ever developed. In doing this, they didn’t communicate just how important inventors are to modern society. Think about how many people were involved with the creation of that bottle of soda. Hard to fathom, isn’t it? Each part, when it was first developed, was probably vastly different from what it is now. Bottle caps were initially not made out of plastic. Soda recipes were probably revised many times before the drink that you’re sipping on became a finished product. Even the earring or earrings you may be wearing are the result of many human revisions so that their posts don’t hurt your ears.

Inventing something is one of today’s greatest miracles, and to be an inventor may be easier than you think. You could be lucky enough to have a science or engineering background and a keen eye for things that need to be improved upon. If that’s the case, you’ve probably already considered becoming an inventor, or have invented something, and hopefully have it patented. Chances are, though, that you’re not that person. You could be a housewife who spends most of her time at home taking care of the kids. You could be a trades worker who spends many hours in front of a machine doing quality inspections. Or maybe you’re a college student with a vast body of knowledge but very little idea what you want to do when you ‘grow up’. You could fall into virtually any category and successfully patent something that sells like wildfire. All you need is an idea, some passion and a plan. Most people have a subject or two they can profess they’re an expert on, and in many cases, they have opinions about how their experience with it could be improved. The opinions are the seeds that can grow you into a patent-holding inventor.

You may find the process of getting a patent and marketing a novel product difficult to understand. However, you may be comforted to know that the US Patent and Trademark Office – the regulatory center of intellectual property in the United States – approves nearly half of the patent applications they receive every year. That’s because the people who submit the applications are passionate about the product they invented and are ready to effectively prove that their creation is special. In your life, have you ever had to fight for something that you sincerely believed in? Well, the practice of inventing and patenting will tap the energy source you used to fight, and will exercise it so that you become a stronger person. Look at the invention process as a way to obtain personal growth instead of a nuisance. And remember, you aren’t alone: there are plenty of resources available to the aspiring inventor. You might just fall in love with wearing shoes like Thomas Edison once wore.

The Patent vs. the Trademark

Intellectual Property Rights have been governed by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for many years. IPRs exist on patents, trademarks and on copyrights. A novice inventor may be confused about what their creation should get: does it need to be patented, or should he or she get a trademark or copyright for the item?

First of all, copyrights apply generally to information or ideas, and prevent outside parties from capitalizing on them. An inventor of an object or process is not likely going to be seeking a copyright. In order to understand how patents and trademarks differ from each other, it’s necessary to list definitions of both and the different types.

According to the USPTO, the definition of a patent is the grant of a property right to an inventor. A property right is “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale or selling” the invention in the United States, and importing the invention into the United States. There are three types of patents.

Patent type one: Utility Patent

A utility patent will be one that’s given to a machine, a process, a mechanism, or composition of matter that is not obvious and does not resemble prior inventions – called prior art – too much. These patents last 20 years from the initial filing of the patent, and will stay active as long as the inventor keeps up with associated fee payment schedules. Approximately 90 percent of the patents that are filed at the USPTO are utility patents.

Patent type two: Design Patent

A design patent differs from a utility patent in that it is issued for an original, ornamental design for an existing product, and doesn’t require the product to have new functionality. These patents last 14 years from the initial filing and do not require continual fees to be paid.

Patent type three: Plant Patent

Plant patents are issued to inventors that have developed new asexually generated plants, seedlings or associated hybrids. The plant patent protects the invention from being made, used or sold by others for a period of 20 years. Plant patents do not require a regular maintenance fee.

Other filings that inventors can make through the USPTO are reissue patents, which change the details of an original patent, or a defensive publication, which prevents others from patenting a particular invention.

Trademarks, on the other hand, are defined by the USPTO as a “word, name, symbol or device which is used in trade with goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others.” Trademarks are used specifically to make sure that the only person or group to capitalize on the sale of their product is themselves. Trademarks exist on just about any common item that can be purchased in a store, and are often used to build a reputation for the group that owns the trademark. Many people use the trademark to decide whether their business practices produce a product that they want to buy. When a trademark is filed with the USPTO, a picture of the trademark that will be used in advertising must accompany the application.

In general, the inventor will get a patent prior to marketing their product. This will ensure that their invention cannot be reproduced for financial gain. Once the patent is in place, they may decide to form a business selling this product, in which case, they can obtain a trademark for their business.

Tips for Creating Quality Patent Drawings

You’ve been inspired by many famous inventors – Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, and even the Segway inventor, Dean Kamen – and you’ve finally crafted an idea that you’re positive will be patent-worthy. You’ll need to put together a significant amount of paperwork to convince authorities that your creation should be issued a patent. One of the most important aspects of your paperwork is the drawing of your object. You’ll need to create a visual representation of your item and show how it works. This is imperative so that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) knows exactly why your creation is special.

Drawings must be detailed, accurate and easy to interpret. You’ll have to be sure not to leave out any functionality or characteristic. These responsibilities can be very intimidating, so you may want to consider hiring a draftsperson to do the drawing. Doing so can guarantee that the drawings will be of quality, but there are some drawbacks. First of all, draftspersons can charge $100 and up for every drawing they put together. They can also miss out details, or may not be able to properly show what your invention can do. In addition, because you’re working with someone else, you have to be sensitive to their schedule and ability to follow deadlines. Finally, if you’re an aspiring inventor who sees a future creating more inventions, you may want to be able to take on the project of drawing yourself, so it’ll be easier the next time around.

There are many options available for the inventor that wants to construct his or her own drawings. First of all, it’s very important that you are familiar with the documentation rules that the USPTO requires you follow. You can familiarize yourself with these rules by visiting the rules database on the USPTO website, or consulting with your patent lawyer.

Once you’ve familiarized yourself with patent drawing rules, you’ll need to consider how you’re going to construct the drawings. The best way, for many, is to use old fashioned pen and paper. If you do it this way, you have the option to create drafts of each drawing in pencil to make sure you don’t have too many errors. Keep in mind that when you construct these drawings, the final draft must be in India ink, and should be relatively clear. Shadowing, lighting and small details will be important to display in the drawing, so you may want to do some reading up about proper black and white art representation before you complete the drawing. In addition, color can further describe what your invention can do. Nevertheless, the addition of color is a bit more complicated, as you need to produce three copies of the color representation, explain why color is needed, and pay a nominal fee. Still, doing this may be useful if you plan to use the drawings in brochures for your invention. If you really don’t trust yourself to draw freehand, you can take photographs of your invention and trace them onto paper initially. Then you’ll have a black and white replica of what your invention looks like.

Those that really don’t want to use their hands to draw out what they created can purchase Computer Aided Drawing (CAD) programs. There are many on the market and they are very easy to use. They’re also geared toward strict drawing rules, so you can feel safer that you won’t make a regulatory error. Still, like all things that make life easier, the programs are expensive. You may find that hiring a draftsperson can cost just as much.

No matter what, by using one of these methods, you can feel a bit more confident that your patent application will impress those it needs to. With a little bit of practice or monetary investment, you can try your hand at preparing your patent drawings yourself and be ready to jumpstart your inventing career!

Avoid Being Patent Trolled

As an aspiring inventor, you may have quite a few ideas up your sleeve. You may have already had one of your ideas patented. You may think that once your idea becomes patented and has reached consumers through a successful marketing campaign, your worries are over. However, there could be many headaches for you in the future. Aside from the fact that in the long run your patented item might be improved upon by someone else and you’ll lose sales, there’s a chance you might become patent trolled.

Patent trolling, which has been around since the early 1990’s, is the practice of purchasing relatively aged and/or inactive patents specifically to sue companies that have built upon them. It may be hard to understand why people do this. A simple example of patent trolling could be described as follows:

You invented instant lemonade. You patented the creation, it became very popular, and it sold for a long time. A competitor decided to add electrolytes to the instant lemonade, patented it, and eventually, over time, the electrolyte lemonade put the regular lemonade out of business. A guy who has a bit of money bought the patent of the instant lemonade from you, telling you he planned to sell more instant lemonade and make the product marketable again. Once he completed the sale, instead of selling the lemonade, he filed a lawsuit claiming that the electrolyte lemonade infringed on his idea, and wants the electrolyte lemonade company to pay him damages.

It may sound unfair, but this practice has become a major problem for inventors in recent years. As a result, many inventors have felt that if they improve upon an existing idea, they might just be subject to lawsuits in the future by opportunists that make their money specifically from litigation. Even if the inventor wins the battle, it can be time consuming and expensive, with legal costs running into the millions of dollars.

Patent trolls can easily acquire patents. Usually, if a company is near bankruptcy, they may try to auction their patents off to avoid further hardship. Patent trolls can purchase the patents at a very low price, in this case. Some patent trolls own hundreds of patents and are chronically involved in lawsuits. They keep their eye on recent patents filed by larger companies that have improved upon a product and target them due to their high amounts of revenue.

The problem has led to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Federal Trade Commission to be on the look out for patent trolls. Regulation to prevent frivolous litigation is currently in the works, but as an inventor, you can take steps to ensure that your invention won’t be subject to patent trolling. Keep in mind that you are only open to being patent trolled if your invention improves upon something that already exists.

The first defense you can take against being patent trolled is to create a ‘design-around’. In other words, you can change your invention in a small way so that by definition, its functionality is technically not based upon a previous invention. Secondly, there is insurance available to the inventor to avoid having to deal with patent infringement litigation, but it is not considered inexpensive. Finally, if you find yourself capitalizing heavily on an invention that you based on one that is simpler, you may want to use some of your earnings to purchase the older patent before patent trolls do.

Understanding Patent Mapping

Inventors in every corner of the globe must be hyper-vigilant when it comes to making sure that their patent isn’t a duplicate and is currently useful. Many inventors turn to doing their own research by reviewing trade journals, periodicals and the web to determine whether a patent-filing will be a sound investment. One of the many inventions that have passed in front of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is a method for inventors to evaluate how their invention will make out. This method is called Patent landscape mapping (PLM).

Due to the fact that inventions are being created left and right – particularly in the computer and biotechnology industry – classifying the inventions has become increasingly important. PLM makes an effort to divide these inventions into different patent ‘families’ that have relationships not dissimilar to a regular human family. Companies that have a significant amount of intellectual property can form their own PLMs that will map their discoveries in relationship to each other. Furthermore, when a potential new discovery comes along, that company can decide whether or not to capitalize on it by adding it to their PLM. In addition to displaying a single company’s patents, a good PLM will also show the details of the patents owned by direct competitors. This will give the decision-maker a birds-eye view of the overall marketplace.

PLMs can be future predictors. A company that is interested in patenting a technology that extends light-bulb use may create a PLM that groups the patents of opposing companies together with their own patents. In the PLM, a number of things will be visible, including where companies – big and small – could capitalize the most by purchasing the rights to the new light bulb technology. The viewer will also see if an opposing company is close to coming up with the light bulb technology themselves.

Patent landscape mapping is a quantitative process. Over 50 different mathematical expressions are used to develop the average PLM. A patent map graphically displays individual patents in a geographic or topographic map representation. Each patent family is listed, along with points representing each patent. The fundamental differences between patent maps are related to what the map is to be used for. Some maps are specifically measure a particular group of patents’ importance. Other maps, which are more complex, take into account the time at which the patents were approved.

PLMs are usually based upon a simple database which lists patents, their effective dates, their importance and relativity to other patents. Due to the fact that the patent climate is always changing, those that develop PLM databases keep the data up-to-date. In addition to general information about a patent, the good PLM database will monitor legal disputes related to patents and their outcomes. Also, general market trends can be observed in a multi-faceted PLM that contains overall market revenue versus time.

There is a variety of companies and places that develop patent maps for clients. Over the past five years, many patent law firms have included the production of a patent map as part of their services. Consulting companies exist that are devoted to creating patent maps for the inventor. Software has been developed that create PLMs through a process of human-based computing. When deciding to go after that patent, you will find that having a patent map made for you by a qualified source will assist with your decision making.

Get the Confidence to Patent

There are things that all inventors have in common: an idea they’re passionate about, the resourcefulness to put it to life, and the organizational skills to put it on the market. These skills aren’t always easy to come by, but to the skeptical idea holder, they aren’t far out of reach. One may hear success stories about past inventors of the light bulb, the telephone and even the personal computer. All of these individuals made fortunes that can often not be fathomed by the average human being. Since fortunes aren’t often obtained, it’s rather simple to think that the average inventor won’t get very far. Since all inventions require a financial investment and a time investment, the easy notion is to think that there are better things to do with your time.

This just plain is not true. Although it is apparent that there are many walls to hit, getting your first patent can be a lifetime achievement. Think of the pride and sense of accomplishment you’ll feel if you convince the gurus of patent law – the US Patent and Trademark Office – that you, yourself created something that might be beneficial to the lives of people today and for years to come. When you visit a friend’s home, or even a stranger’s home, and you see your product in plain view, ready to use, you can enjoy the dignity of knowing that something you did make this person’s life better.

The best way to attack the job of coming up with a patentable idea is to be realistic. You may have conjured up a mixture of chemicals that cleans your bathroom better than any other product you have tried. You may have dreamt about a toy that you would have loved to play with as a child, but it still doesn’t exist. Or, you may have watched someone struggle with a machine for the umpteenth time, knowing in the back of your mind just how you would change the machine so that it worked better. All of these thoughts could be invention-related epiphanies, you just have to entertain the thoughts a bit longer than the few seconds you normally would. Therefore, to become an inventor, you must give yourself some credit for being momentarily innovative, and expand those moments to much longer periods of time.

You also have to have a tangible plan. Draw out a schedule and estimate just how much money and time this will cost you. If this novel idea of yours requires materials or time that you just can’t obtain, then it may be that you’ll have to reconsider whether to build on it or not. Also, be sure not to expect too much success at once. It’s very likely that the first time you put together your signature concoction, it won’t work. When Thomas Edison was developing the light bulb, he had to develop hundreds of different kinds of burnable filaments before he came up with the carbon-based filament found to be the longest lasting. Edison, in inventing the light bulb, did more than just light up our homes, he became an inspiration and an example for inventors everywhere, demonstrating persistence, dedication and flexibility.

Despite the fact that Edison was definitely a special case, many inventors have followed in his footsteps. Everywhere you look in your life you’ll find many items that have been patented. Think of each of those items growing from an idea just like yours, and you’ll have the confidence to go out there and make your idea part of history.

Inventing as a Home Based Business

In recent years, the ailing economy has forced a number of people to reconsider what their careers should be. Many people have been laid off or have been part of a family where one of their incomes doesn’t exist anymore. Despite the fact that there may be no work, there must be a way for a household to make ends meet. Today’s ease of communication has made home-based businesses a wonderful way to get an income.

When people consider starting a home-based business, their mind often travels to those who tutor, who are medical transcriptionists, or are web designers, all of which can use the web to advertise. What they don’t know is that there are many home-based businesses centered around one concept: invention. Inventors are critically important in today’s world, with society on a constant road to improvement. In fact, many people have probably conjured up an idea for an invention but have never followed through with constructing it. There are countless numbers of patents that are obtained every year, and many come from companies that already exist. That means if you have to stay at home and are ready to spend time on a very good idea, you may want to focus your time and energy on an invention.

An invention business may be perfect for the mom who just retired from an engineering position to raise her children. She has experience in the raw creation of things, and like all other engineers, probably has a drive to produce. Some women in this position find the fact that children are around can actually help them with the creative process. One famous inventor, Stacy Dahlman, developed a toy called Paci-Plushies. This popular toy came about when she noticed that her baby was often enamoured by its pacifier. Thinking that the baby would love their pacifier even more if a stuffed animal was attached to it, she made a small stuffed animal and tied it to the pacifier. Her baby loved it and it inspired her to consider marketing her idea. After filing her patent, she went ahead and started producing the Paci-Plushies, which has grown into a successful business.

Dahlman did not develop this toy overnight. Nevertheless, she showed confidence and had a passion about getting her product into households. It only took twelve months for Dahlman’s invention to go from idea to marketable product. What she wasn’t sure about was the budget: the cost of bringing the Paci-Plushies to market cost a whole lot more money than she initially respected. Nevertheless, returns on her product were monumental.

Dahlman’s success isn’t rare. Many people who become home-based inventors fall upon a product idea that they know hasn’t been developed. If you want to become a home-based inventor, you should should consider following these steps:

1. Brainstorm. Get a pen and paper and look at your surroundings. Think of the things that you like to do and the reasons why you don’t like it better. List what you think you could feasibly develop.

2. Get on the web or go to the library to see if your idea has been thought of, and a related product has been produced.

3. Consider following the patent process so that the idea will be yours and only yours for a long time.

4. Develop a business plan. Be sure to be clear how long it will take to make this invention, how long it will take to get a patent and how you plan to spend your money and time.

5. Consider how you’re going to market your invention. Answer questions like ‘Who would be interested in this?’ and ‘How can these people be reached?’

6. Think about whether you want to sell the invention or develop a business out of it. Some inventors fall in love with the process of inventing, and do not want to focus their time selling their first invention. If this is the case, they often sell the patent for their invention to someone who has the resources to market it.

Most importantly, keep your family and home life in mind. If you work at home, you’ll have distractions and commitments you might not usually have. Find ways to work them into your inventing schedule. And don’t forget to have fun!

How to File a Patent Application

Haven’t you ever wondered why a light bulb appears over a cartoon’s head when they get an idea? Well it’s no coincidence that an idea and a light bulb are so closely related: the inventor of the light bulb, Thomas Edison, is probably one of the most famous idea makers in history. Well, he inspired a wave of invention that’s just getting bigger today. When an invention is made, though, there are many opportunities for the public to try to reproduce it and earn money by selling it. If you’re the inventor of a product, chances are, you don’t want that to happen. That’s why getting a patent is useful to the inventor. A patent will consider an invention to be the sole intellectual property of the inventor or anyone who may have purchased the idea from the inventor.

Patents are filed through a government organization called the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO has developed many rules and regulations to determine if an invention qualifies for a patent. They require that a formal application is filed before a patent is considered for an invention.

Unlike other government applications that may be familiar to the average American, this is no simple one-word-answer-oriented application. The application will ask the inventor to describe the application using the codes and regulations found in a number of documents, including the US Patent Classification System, the Manual of Patent Examining Procedures, the United States Code (title 35), and Rules of Practice in Patent Cases (37CFR). The USPTO offers guides for filling out a patent application and offers some limited live help.

The application will require a number of things, the most important of which are listed. First of all, it will ask for the background of the invention, particularly how and why it was generated. The purpose of the invention is important to list in this section. It will require you to elaborate how exactly the product works in a summary and a detailed description of the invention. The description must be concise and accurate and include instructions about how an average human not familiar with the invention characteristics would go about developing one of their own. The claims part of the application will be where you describe what exactly you want the patent to protect. The rules and regulations of the USPTO are to be used very carefully here, because any lawsuits related to your invention will revolve around the protections you describe here. Finally, if you are inventing a device, you’ll need to include drawings of the device. The drawings must be completed in india ink and must show every feature of the invention.

The above requirements are for a utility patent, which is what most inventions are. If you’re not creating a non-live physical entity, you will fill out an application for a utility patent. There are two other types of patents: a design patent and a plant patent. A design patent, which is granted to creative changes to an already existing object, requires a much more visual-oriented application. Rules require there to be drawings of the decorative changes made to the object and possibly photographs. Similar to the utility patent application, a claim must be made on the invention. Keep in mind that in this case, only one claim is allowed.

A plant patent is given to plants or seedlings that have either been discovered by an individual or genetically engineered. The application, in this case, is much more similar to the utility patent application. The background and description of the plant are described similar to the way a utility invention is, except biological terminology must be used. In addition, the inventor must be able to argue that the plant is stable and safe to propagate. Drawings of the plant can be included, but there is no need to illustrate the plant’s use.

The application must be turned into the USPTO in full with an application fee which varies based on the nature of the application. The USPTO website contains up-to-date fee schedules for inventors to review. Due to the complicated nature of the application, many people choose to have a patent attorney examine their application and suggest alterations. In any case, without a good patent application, you may not get a patent that recognizes your hard work.

What a Business Plan Can Do to a Patent

A patented invention – although very commonly obtained by large companies – can change an individual inventor’s life when it’s first obtained. Aside from the initial excitement and feeling of accomplishment that comes from a first patent, an invention can promise a new, potentially lucrative way to make money. An inventor can end his or her relationship with the patent immediately by selling the patent to an organization who can capitalize on the idea easily. This decision can reward the inventor with a very large, immediate bottom line. However, the inventor that wishes to build a company out of his invention could watch it turn into an empire.

Before the entrepreneurial inventor can watch his or her company grow, he or she has to put its foundation together, which is anchored largely by a business plan. A business plan will define what it is one is looking to sell, how he or she is going to sell it, pricing guidelines, marketability, and definitions of how the business will be structured. If you aren’t far from getting that patent and need to know what is in a business plan, continue reading.

Part One: The Executive Summary

This is the first section of your business plan and probably the most important. In this section, you will describe the fundamentals of your invention and how you plan to build a business around it. In addition to stating the purpose of your business, this is a place of summary, where you can outline the rest of your business plan so that it makes the presentation easier on readers. It’s likely that if you have successfully patented a novel item, then you will gather the interest of venture capitalists. They’ll be most intrigued when seeing this executive summary.

Part Two: The Marketing Plan

This part requires the creativity that you tapped when you first invented your product. You’ll need to answer questions here like “who will buy this product?” and “what strategies are necessary to lure a buyer in?” In addition to this, you’ll need to realistically define what you can expect when it comes to buyer turnout. The investment of money and time put in can equal the amount of revenue taken in, and this is probably the best place to estimate this. It’s very important that when you project these things, that you don’t overestimate. If you are actively seeking investors to take an interest in your product, they will be very actively disappointed if you don’t supply the revenue that you agreed to. This is also a place to exhibit some of your first advertising ideas. Since you know your invention probably better than anyone else, the roots of your advertising campaign should lead to you. In the future, you may want to tap other creative outlets – particularly experienced marketing personnel – but if you’ve got a great idea for letting people know how good your product is, this is the place to describe it.

Part Three: Financial Projections

Although you know you have a great product ready to be shown to the world, can you identify just how much money it’s going to bring in at first? This is never an easy question to answer. If you’re new to the business world, it’s best to contact a friend or colleague who knows about making projections like this so that they can help you do proper research. It has been said here before, but it bears repeating: be realistic. Venture capitalists will form better relationships with you if you do not overestimate too much. In addition, if you plan to market this product locally, nationally or internationally, do research about the associated regions; don’t get data that may misrepresent what’s the truth.

Part Four: Hiring Strategy

When it comes to selling your invention, you’re going to have costs. These include operational costs, material costs, and labor costs. This is the section where you estimate just what personnel you’re going to need to meet your goals. Most investors start small and work their way up. With repeated successes and the spreading name of the business, the size of the company will grow. Still, in the initial business plan, you must outline the most immediate staffing needs and not those that _could_ happen.

These are all part of a quality business plan that will entice any investor.

How to Patent a Microorganism

The title may sound absurd, but the practice of patenting a microorganism is done frequently in the science and food industry. In fact, food scientists have been patenting various strains of yeast for over 150 years, specifically for use in brewing and baking. Like any other invention, the microorganism created must follow all patent rules, including that it’s unique, useful, and that the holder of the patent is competent enough to make use of the invention.

If you’re a scientist who is familiar with microorganisms, finding a microorganism to patent is most likely going to be the hard part. Patentable microorganisms can be found in the natural world or they can be genetically engineered. The most important part of obtaining a patent is to a) find a way to isolate and grow the microorganisms and b) to find a practical application for it. You’ll also need to describe in your patent application how a scientist can reproduce your microorganism, which might be difficult to explain. If you are genetically altering a microorganism that’s known, describing the process to do this isn’t too difficult. However, if you’re introducing a brand new microorganism, the rules are different. What’s more is that you’ll need to send a sample of the microorganism to the International Depository Authority (IDA).

There are rules that you must follow if you plan to make a deposit. First of all, you must give the sample to the IDA prior to submitting your patent application. When you do send the deposit off, be sure to check the customs requirements for the country you are sending the sample to. Be extra sure that the sample is viable and stays that way: filing the patent could take extra time if the IDA receives a bad sample. In addition, some countries require that you add information about IDA’s sample tracking number on your patent application.

Once your deposit is filed with the IDA, it has specific protections. Each country’s rules about who can access or obtain information about the sample vary. Some require the individual or organization that’s looking to use details of the patent must have credentials that prove that he or she will be able to use it practically.

While the above may sound straightforward, the future of biotechnological patent law may require deposit rules to change. With genetic engineering becoming more ubiquitous and the advent of bioprocessing, IDA deposits are being done at a rapid rate. The regulations in Japan and in the United States are currently different from those in Europe, and efforts have been made in recent years to solidify an international method for depositing microorganisms. “The Budapest Treaty: Code of Practice for IDA” was developed in 1998 to attempt to clarify how IDAs should operate and handle different kinds of living samples for patents. Unfortunately, the efforts to make changes worldwide haven’t been completed yet.

In addition, if you live in a country that is not a part of the Budapest Treaty, you’ll need to find out what your own country’s rules are for making deposits. Not all countries are a part of the Treaty, including some countries with very active scientific industries, like Taiwan. More information about the Budapest Treaty can be reviewed at the World Intellectual Property Organization website. A guide for the inventor of a microorganism can also be found there.

Article Writers: When to Outsource

Are you an article writer? If so, you may prefer writing your own articles. Many writers find doing so much easier and more rewarding, but there may come a point in time when you need to outsource. So, how do you know when outsourcing is recommended?

When you can’t meet your client’s deadline. Are you a writer who receives upfront payment for writing articles for someone else? Regardless of who this individual or company is and what they will do with your articles, do you have a deadline to meet? If that deadline cannot be extended, outsourcing is recommended. In this type of instance, outsourcing can prevent you from losing a client.

When you are in over your head. Are you writing on a topic that you don’t know about? Did you mistakenly believe you could research the topic in question, but is that research too difficult or taking too long? When writing articles for pay, you need to make money, not lose it. If you suspect that a difficult topic may be causing you to lose money, consider outsourcing. Use the internet to find talented writers who specialize in the topic or subject you are struggling with.

When you are sick. There is nothing worse than trying to write articles, especially articles with a deadline, when you are ill. First, if you are working with a paying client, talk to them. Most know that everyone develops colds and illnesses from time to time. As long as you don’t come down with a cold every week, your clients should be willing to work with you. If not, outsourcing can get your articles completed, while allowing you to rest and recuperate.

When you are faced with a family emergency. Yes, writing articles online for pay and meeting your deadlines is important, but so is your family. There are some instances when you may need to shut off the computer and place your attention elsewhere. Did a close family member pass away? Are you a parent with sick children at home? If so, now is the time to examine outsourcing. Outsourcing allows you to still get all article writing assignments completed, while being able to focus on your family.

And, then of course there is the need to make money. If you play your cards right, you can make money outsourcing articles without doing any work yourself. As for how you do so, you may acquire a paying client online. Instead of writing the articles they are paying you to write, you turn around and outsource that work, but for a lower rate. Although you must pay your outsourcer, hiring them at a lower rate enables you to make money. Your profits may be small for each article writing project, but they can add up overtime.

Before deciding to outsource your next project, know that it does have its pros and cons. Usually, it depends on how you use outsourcing. If you can write articles yourself and if you are doing so for a client, outsourcing usually isn’t recommended. You are putting your name and reputation on the line. Does the client in question allow outsourcing? Is the work that you are attaching your name to plagiarized or poor in quality? Many writers find it too risky to outsource unless they have a legitimate reason for doing so.

What You Need to Know About Writing Articles for Money

Are you interested in making money writing articles? You may have read online that is a relatively easy way to make money from home. Yes, this is true, but there is more to writing articles for money. If you want to be a successful article writer, on all fronts, please continue reading on for a few helpful tips.

If you work for a client, you are usually referred to as a contractor. This means that the individual or company in question does not legally employ you. Instead, you complete a little bit of work for them, on an as needed basis. Since you will likely not receive health benefits, you need to closely examine your situation. If you are looking to replace your current job with article writing, examine health insurance and your need for it.

If you want to earn money writing articles for others, you may actively search for projects online. Online bidding websites, classified ads, and job boards are great places to find article writing projects. With that said, there are online scams that focus on freelance writing. The most popular of these scams is writing articles for a client and not having that client pay you. Use your best judgment when working with a new client. Ask for references or request to receive a small portion of the payment upfront or once the project reaches the halfway point. This way you won’t lose all of your work.

Also, know that you can write for yourself. To get started, find a third party content website. They allow you to post your articles on their website. For giving them usage rights, you may be paid. Popular forms of payment include an upfront payment or a page view bonus. There are also third party websites where you can list your articles for sale.

Articles can also be used to create a content filled website or blog. These articles make money through website advertisements. Depending on your personal preferences, you can apply for programs where you are paid for each click or paid a percentage of each sale that you help to generate.

Regardless of whether you write for yourself or a client, you will want to signup for a PayPal account. PayPal is a safe way to receive payments online. Instead of issuing checks, many paying clients and third party revenue sharing websites prefer sending payments through PayPal. An account is free to have. In fact, if most of your clients pay you through PayPal, you can request a debit card, which will give you easy access to your money.

Also, regardless of who you write for, you need to report your earnings to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). You will be subject to the self-employment tax. This is important as many new writers are left trying to come up with the needed cash at the last minute. When you are self-employed, even just part-time, you not only need to pay your income tax, but the self-employment tax too. You are encouraged to start saving money for payment throughout the year.

As for writing your articles with ease, are you using Microsoft Word? If not, you will want to purchase a copy. If you opt to acquire paying clients online, many require articles to be formatted with Microsoft Word. It also has helpful spell check and grammar check tools. Although this software can be expensive to purchase, you will easily recoup the costs in no time at all. In addition, save your receipts as all business related purchases can be recorded as a business expense.

The above mentioned tips are just a few of the basics that you need to understand to start making money as an article writer. To help increase your chances of making money, you will want to familiarize yourself with internet marketing, search engine optimization, and keyword articles. Doing so will allow you to increase your profits, no matter who you are writing for.