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If you are an inventor, you probably have a lot of passion for your ideas. It is only natural to want to share your discoveries with others, particularly if you are in an academic field where journal publications are the norm. Publishing your research can garner you esteem among your colleagues, help you to get [...]
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Perhaps you have seen their late-night TV advertisements. Invention submission companies promise to help inventors not just to obtain patents, but also to license and market their inventions. Such an arrangement may sound very desirable to an individual inventor who lacks the know-how to successfully market an invention and does not know of a reputable [...]
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Since 1995, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has allowed applicants to file provisional patent applications. These applications differ in several important ways from full, nonprovisional utility applications. Unlike nonprovisional applications, they automatically become abandoned 12 months after filing and are never examined or published. Claims and documents are not required for a provisional [...]
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In part 1, I introduced the performance system faced by Examiners and in part 2 I explained how this performance system affects the prosecution process. In part 3, I discuss the ways that the incentives faced by Examiners can be used to an applicant’s advantage.
Timing
One way that knowledge of the performance system can be used [...]
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The Performance System In Practice
In part 2, I explore the effect of the Examiners’ performance system on the patent prosecution process. In theory, this may seem like a workable system in which the Examiners are encouraged to make the best case possible as quickly as possible so that they can get the case either allowed [...]
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Dealing with Examiners can sometimes be frustrating. Each Examiner has his or her own personality and methods. Sometimes, it is just difficult to see where the Examiner is coming from. Why did they send out the strange one paragraph Office Action? Why did they say they would not enter the amendment without an RCE?
Of course, [...]
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Introduction
Many inventors initially have difficulty understanding the claims of a patent application or issued patent. It doesn’t help that claims are required to be a single sentence (which may stretch to a page or longer) and contain specialized legal jargon. Yet an understanding of claims is perhaps the most important factor, in my experience, in [...]
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It may take quite some time for your patent application to mature into an issued patent. What can you do in the meantime if you think someone else is making or selling your invention? Talk to your attorney. A lawsuit is generally premature without an issued patent creating patent rights to infringe.
One option is to [...]
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Getting the Application Ready
After you have decided that you need a patent and have selected a patent agent/attorney to represent you, the next step in the application process is preparing the application itself. You can find more information on what goes into a patent application in a future post.
Typically, you send the information you have [...]
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Unfortunately, turnover at the Patent Office is very high and the quality of Examiners can vary widely. What happens when an Examiner is not applying the correct law or misunderstands a key aspect of your invention? The first step is to try to work it out with the Examiner. Many Examiners are friendly and intelligent. [...]
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