Authority
Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution authorizes the federal government to grant patents on inventions in order to encourage scientific and technical progress. The US Patent and Trademark Office defines a patent as "the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale or selling" a patented item. Under U.S. law, patent protection lasts for 20 years, provided the inventor pays maintenance fees periodically to keep it in force. The U.S. patent process is complicated, so an inventor should retain the services of a qualified patent attorney or agent who has the technical knowledge and legal expertise needed to file a patent. The attorney acts as an advisor and assistant throughout the patent process.
Preliminaries
The inventor and attorney first determine if an invention or innovation qualifies as a patentable item. Some items, like scientific discoveries or things that occur naturally, cannot be patented. A person may patent inventions or new combinations of existing technology that perform a novel function. Inventors can also patent improvements to existing devices or designs as well as some computer software and genetically engineered organisms.
Application Process
Applicants normally file a provisional patent to start. The provisional patent protects the priority of a claim for 12 months so the applicant has time to complete the patent process.
Next the inventor and patent attorney conduct a patent search. First they make a preliminary search just to determine if an invention is already covered by a patent. The inventor can do the preliminary search online or at the USPTO archives in Arlington, Virginia. The patent attorney or agent usually performs the second stage of the search. He reviews the technical details of the invention and then searches related patents to ascertain which features of the invention are really novel and which are already patented. The USPTO awards patents only for the genuinely novel features of an innovation.
A patent application consists of four parts. It begins with a discussion of "prior art" or patented devices that relate to the current application. A summary description of the invention or innovation comes next. The third section states the "preferred embodiment," or proposed design for the invention.
"Claims" is the last and most important part. The claims section presents a detailed explanation of what the invention does and how it functions. The inventor includes technical specifications, drawings and schematics. Upon submission, a patent examiner reviews the application. Most of the time, the patent examiner will identify some problems and turn down the initial application. The inventor and patent agent or attorney then revise the application and resubmit it for final approval.
