About Patent

Fees

The wording of  the application is critical to the patent rights, if any, you may receive. Although you have the right to prepare your own application documents, getting assistance of a licensed patent practitioner will help your chances of obtaining good patent protection.

With the written description, you must also submit a signed declaration stating that you believe yourself to be the first inventor of the discovery named.

filing fee. Fees change periodically and should be verified by your patent practitioner. Consult the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office's web site for current fees (www.uspto.gov). 

To give you an idea of cost: for 1999, the basic filing fee for an application for a utility patent is $690; for a design patent, $310; for a plant patent, $480. (Additional fees are based on the total number of claims described in the application.) When a utility patent is issued, another fee of $1,210 is required; for a design patent, $430; for a plant patent, $580. Maintenance fees are required periodically for the duration of a utility patent to keep it in force. Maintenance fees are due 3 1/2 years after issue ($830), 7 1/2 years after issue ($1,900) and 11 1/2 years after issue ($2,910). 

All fees (filing, issue and maintenance) are reduced by half if the applicant is a "small entity"-in other words, an independent inventor, a small business or non-profit organization inventor. When the application documents are finished they should be mailed to the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks.

Locating manufacturers and individuals who might be interested in your invention:

1. 1.Seek information from chambers of commerce and banks.
2. Seek information from the district offices of the Small Business Administration and of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
3. Write to the governor of your state to obtain a list of planning and development agencies that assist manufacturers and communities that are seeking new product/process ideas.

Before you make any commitments to any organization, however, investigate the firm's reputation and make sure you are dealing with reliable people. Beware — many of the invention marketing companies are less than honorable. If they require a large up front fee to promote your invention, this is a sign that they plan on making money whether your invention is successful or not.

If you want to sell or license your patent rights, you can, for a fee of $25, request the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to publish such a notice in the Official Gazette, the weekly publication of information related to patents and trademarks. You can find copies of the Gazette in the library, or you may buy it from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.

Can be Patented 

I. Inventions of Utility

A. First the invention must fall into one of five statutory classes if applying for a utility patent. The five statutory classes are:

1. Process
   Including conventional processes (ex. the method for making plastics) and software processes
2. Machines
   Including conventional machines, those with moving parts (ex. a telephone) and software machines
3. Manufactured Products
   Inventions with nonmoving parts (ex. books)
4. Compositions of Matter
   Examples include chemicals, alloys, and pharmaceuticals
5. New Uses of Any of the Above

B. The invention must be useful, even if that use is only amusement.

C. The invention must also satisfy the novelty requirement. In other words, it must be original or something that has never been seen before.

D. Finally, the invention must meet the unobviousness requirement, meaning it would have been unobvious to the people skilled in the area of the invention.

II. Inventions of Design

III. Asexually Reproducible Plants

Cannot be Patented

• Superior material for inferior
• Change in size, form, or shape
• Mere adjustabilty
• Diminution of parts
• Omission of parts
• Use of old art for another purpose
  Mere aggregation
• Laws of nature
• Physical phenomena
• Abstract ideas
• Literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works (these should be copyright protected)
• Inventions which are against the laws of nature (ex. perpetual motion machines)
• Inventions whose only use is for illegal purposes (ex. torture devices)

AN INVENTION

• Inventors and their ideas are as American as baseball and apple pie. Typical inventions are physical objects, procedures, methods, and products. There are many types of inventions. 
• For an idea to be termed an invention, an inventor must conceive of an idea and then reduce it to practice. In other words, you must be capable of explaining how the idea will be reproducibly applied in a real world example. For instance, if an inventor conceives of machine that can instantly transport a person from New York to Los Angeles, he has a great idea! But if the inventor actually knows how to build such a machine, he has a great invention. An idea needs to be more than just abstract to be an invention. 
• An inventor does not need to build a model of an invention to make sure that it actually works, only describe how the idea will be embodied or practiced. Most commonly, an inventor writes down an idea and draws pictures or flow charts of how the idea will look or be practiced. A + Legal Services can provide legal advice to guide you in determining whether your idea has become an invention. 
• Ideas are powerful because they lead to inventions. Inventions make daily tasks and products faster, simpler, more attractive, and more profitable.

Screening search to look for U.S. patents and foreign patents and foreign patents typically kept as records in the U.S. Patent Office that are similar to your concept. 

To discover related patents,  file your invention idea with the Patent Trademark Office so that it receives a filing number and date, which can then be used during the patent application process to demonstrate the date you officially conceived of the idea.