Chapter 14
How to Apply for a Utility Patent
In This Chapter
◆ The nonprovisional patent
◆ Staking claim on your invention
◆ Prototypes—necessary or not?
◆ Patenting computer programs
We need to thank our creative inventors for not only our good life, but a healthy one in a great land of opportunity. When I look back at the thousands of inventors that I have helped, I see not only the successful companies, but all the lives that they have touched for the better.
—Lawrence J. Udell, executive director, California Invention Center,
Center for New Venture Alliance, Intellectual Property International,
Ltd.
Center for New Venture Alliance, Intellectual Property International,
Ltd.
If you’ve invented an elevator-winding device, an apparatus for attaching tag pins, a tape-drive mechanism, a 3-D digitizer, a preschool toy, a U-joint mount, or simply a better mousetrap, you might want to consider the kind of protection a nonprovisional utility patent can provide. It’s the strongest position you can take.
Manufacturers get a warm and fuzzy feeling from broad utility patents. A utility patent on an invention will really pump up your concept’s shine and get everyone’s attention. The more bulletproof you can make your invention, the better. A strong utility patent can give your licensee a monopoly on making, using, and selling the invention. That’s what it’s all about.
Before deciding whether to proceed with the filing of any patent application, you have to consider a patent search (see Chapter 12). Once you’ve made that decision, dive into this chapter to see the options available to you.
(Note that the USPTO no longer runs its Document Disclosure program. It was discontinued on February 1, 2007.)
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