So, you’ve invented the proverbial better mousetrap, and now you’re afraid the first thing it’s going to catch is the attention of some rat intent on stealing your idea.
If that’s the case, it’s time to join the likes of Thomas Edison. Apply for a patent.
You don’t have to be as prolific an inventor as Edison, who held over 1,000 patents to seek protection for your ideas. In fact, you don’t even have to have “invented,” something in the traditional sense: patents are granted for designs, processes, and even plants.
A patent is a grant of a property right by the federal government to the inventor 'to exclude others from making, using or selling the invention.' Most patents are good for 20 years from the date of application or 14 years for a design patent. After that, the invention is up for grabs.
There are three major categories of patents:
• Utility Patents cover machines, manufactured objects, chemical compositions and industrial or technical processes or new uses of any of the above.
• Design Patents protect the appearance of an article of manufacture.
• Plant Patents are granted for the invention or discovery of any distinct and new variety of plant with the exception of tuber-propagated plant or plants found in an uncultivated state.
What can’t be patented, however, are ideas, methods of doing business, or printed matter. You also must request a patent within a year of first using or selling the invention.
Before applying for a patent, do a patent search to make sure nobody else has already staked a claim on the invention. You can do it yourself, hire a patent attorney or use a professional patent search firm.
To apply for a patent, send an application describing the invention to the US Patent and Trademark Office. Patent examiners will conduct an exhaustive research to determine whether your invention meets the criteria of being “novel” and “unobvious” -- a process that can take up to two years. While waiting, you can protect your invention with a disclosure letter, which is a detailed description of your product, signed by two witnesses and notarized.
The application fee costs a few hundred dollars, but it’s a good idea to secure a patent attorney to help guide you through what can be a complex process. Expect to pay at least $1,000 to hire legal help.
Your patent is good only in the country where it is awarded, which means you have to apply for one in each country where you plan to market your product. Most countries have patent systems, although the terms and types of patents vary.
Often inventors make their money by selling their interest in the patent or licensing manufacturing rights to someone else. To sell all or part of your interest in a patent, file an “assignment” document filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office maintains a Web site which contains downloadable forms as well as a searchable database of every patent issued in the last two decades. It can be found at http://www.uspto.gov/-- a convenience that probably even Thomas Edison never envisioned.
