When you invent something new, you'll want to protect it. The process of filing for a patent can take a long time and can be expensive. Rather than filing for a patent outright, file for a provisional patent that gives you 12 months to determine whether your invention is commercially viable. As a result, you can use the "patent pending" label when pitching and marketing your item. What you need to know about filing a provisional patent.
Provisional patents: what are they?
Since June 1995, there has been a provisional patent. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) offers it to inventors as a low-cost option for filing in the United States. The GATT Uruguay Round Agreements, which set the groundwork for 123 countries' tariffs and trade, also give U.S. applicants parity with foreign applicants.
To establish an early filing date for an invention, provisional patents are filed with the USPTO. For its provisions to extend beyond the 12-month period of the provisional patent, you must file for a nonprovisional patent. A nonprovisional patent cannot be extended beyond 12 months, so if you fail to file it within that period, you will no longer be able to protect your invention with a patent.
Benefits and Disadvantages
A patent is awarded to the first person
to file a patent application for a particular invention. By submitting a
simplified application, inventors can secure their position as "first to
file" with a provisional patent. Provisional patent applications do not
require claims, unlike nonprovisional patent applications. Inventions are
defined in claims. A provisional patent doesn't include a claim, so it's easier
to prepare and doesn't alert competitors to the exact invention you're securing.
It allows inventors to test and refine ideas without worrying that someone else
will file a patent application before them.
Provisional patent applications don't require an attorney since they don't require a claim, so inventors can complete them on their own. As a result, you don't have to pay legal fees, just the filing fee, which ranges from $75 to $300 per application. You can describe your invention as "patent pending" for 12 months after filing the provisional patent application. Taking the provisional patent route offers all of these benefits.
Provisional patents do not grant patents. As you prepare and submit your nonprovisional patent application, the application serves as a placeholder. You're adding a cost that wouldn't otherwise exist if you applied for a nonprovisional patent. Since you cannot guarantee that a patent will be granted after you complete the remaining paperwork, this can create a false sense of protection.
Filing When It's Time
It is understandable to wonder when and
why to use a provisional patent due to its limited protection and lack of
official patent status. With a provisional patent, you want to secure your
position as the first to file for your patent and then quickly move into
production and distribution. Maybe you want to raise investment capital for
your idea through pitch sessions. Waiting 22 months for a patent to be issued
is not something you want to do.
Provisional patents protect your idea
immediately while you complete nonprovisional paperwork. All materials relating
to your product will include the phrase "patent pending".
Provisional Patent Application Process
The Provisional Application for Patent
Cover Sheet (USPTO Form SB-16) is required to start the application. Names,
titles and addresses of the inventors are listed on this sheet. There is also a
disclosure to complete and a signature required.
In your application, you will include:
ü Application Data Sheet
ü Drawings of the invention
ü Specification (description of the
invention)
Online or by mail, you can submit your
application. There is a $300 filing fee. A provisional patent for a small
entity costs $150, while a provisional patent for a micro entity costs $75. A
small company has fewer than 500 employees. The term micro entity refers to small
entities that have a gross income that does not exceed three times the median
household income for the preceding year and are not named on more than four
utility patents.
What is a Utility Model Patent?The utility model patent is a privilege granted by the State to the inventor as recognition of the investment and efforts made, to those inventions that consist of a new form, configuration or arrangement of elements of an artifact, tool, instrument, mechanism or another object or part thereof, which allows a better or different functioning, use or manufacture of the object that incorporates it or that provides it with some utility, advantage or technical effect that it did not previously have.What benefits do I obtain when patenting a utility model?Being the only one who for 10 years can exploit the invention.
The exploitation may consist of exclusively and directly marketing the patented product, or through third parties granting licenses, transferring the rights obtained through its sale for a third party to exploit the invention.
In conclusion, the benefit is economic for the inventor or owner of the patent.What are the differences between an invention patent and a utility model patent?The utility model is intended for minor inventions in terms of inventive range.
The main differences that should be noted are:The utility model only contemplates the protection of product inventions; On the other hand, inventions of product and, also, of procedure are protected in the patent of invention.The protected invention in the utility model must be new and have industrial application.The protection period of the utility model is 10 years.What standards should be consulted to know about the procedures for the protection of a patent of invention and the rights of its owner?The current legislation on patents is contained in Decision 486 of 2000 of the Commission of the Andean Community, norm applicable to all the member countries of the Andean Community.
This Decision is also regulated in the Regulatory Decrees, and additionally, the SIC issues the Single Circular containing the set of guidelines that guide users on how to proceed with industrial property procedures.
These rules can be consulted in normativity
The patent illustration is incomplete without patent illustrations.
you should hire professionals for patent Illustration Services in order to reduce the chances of rejection of your patent application Patent illustrations are an important part of the patent application.
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