Patents- They Work. How to Get Started

Patents are one of the most important keys to successful technological innovation. They work and can provide you and your company with ability to prevent others from making or selling your designs for many years.

For inventors-

• Learn to protect your work so that you can either license your patents or start a company to produce your concepts.
• Become a leader and improve your career with your employer.

Steps to Take to Prepare Your Patents-

Step 1- Conduct a patent search..

Expect to find lots of related patents. Your job is to analyze the existing patents and find "holes" in what is covered.

• Google patents is best place to start. But you can also use www.uspto.gov.
• Enter your search words for a quick or advanced search
• Look at the titles of the results and open the ones that look most closely related.
• Check off which patents have the functions that your design provides

Be sure to keep track of everything that you do- record all your search terms and search results, write them down in your notebook and save/print results. List patent number, date, title and summarize what it covers.

Step 2- Draft Your Own Patent Application-

You, as the inventor, are the person best suited to write the initial draft of your application. Then have it reviewed by a patent attorney. Do it yourself plus help from a great patent attorney, will save you money and I believe can result in a stronger patent.

• Draft a patent application that can be filed, first as a Provisional Patent Application and then as a full patent application, complete with claims.
• Follow the format of a typical patent.
• “In the past it has been know that… could be used to… However, these devices do not …., …., …. Therefore the objectives of this design are to….,….,…”
• Description of your design- Provide sufficient details so that “someone skilled in the art could replicate your design”. Describe your design and refer to clear diagrams (flow, system block, operation) and drawings.
• Claims- This is the hardest part. Get help from your attorney. Start with independent claims, “a means to provide…” Then add dependent claims (the design in claim x above where the means is….). You can also add Method Claims- “What is claimed is a method of doing…. that includes- a means of…., means of…. and…”
• Functions are key- Verb-nouns used to describe what your design does.
• Construct a table to summarize and compare patents you found versus your design
  List the functions that your design provides down the first column.
  List related patents in columns to the right of your patent and check off the functions that are provided by each patent.
• Unique combinations of functions that are not covered by any existing patent (and do not exist in a design that is already known) may be patentable.. as long as they are "useful and not obvious to someone skilled in the art."

Good luck.