No doubt you or someone you know has come up with a clever way to solve a problem and has heard it said, “You should patent that idea!” For many people, inventions and ideas are the same. To the Patent Office, ideas and inventions are very different. The Patent Office requires Non-Provisional patent applications to […]
The first section of a patent application is the “background” section. Many inventors write lengthy background sections which attempt to explain how the inventor came to invent the invention, how the invention is better that a number of existing inventions, and even some background on the inventor themselves. If I had to guess, this seems […]
Many inventors that write their own patent applications use the term “consists of” instead of the preferred term”comprises”. For example, if their invention is a new mixture, they may write “my invention consists of A, B, and C”. To the Patent Office, these words (consists of vs. comprises) have very different meanings. While this […]
Just about every patent application submitted to the patent office will face an obviousness rejection. But what exactly makes an invention “obvious” to a patent examiner? According to the law (35 U.S.C. 103), even if a claimed invention is not identical to an earlier inventio, a patent on the invention cannot be obtained if the […]
Have a new product idea like a cell phone case that works the same as other products but looks different? A design patent may be the way to go. A design patent covers the ornamental design, not the functional design or aspects, of an object. An ornamental design refers to the visual ornamental shape of […]
When writing a patent application for a software invention, the most important objective is to provide enough technical description so that someone who is “skilled in the art,” can make and use the invention after reading the patent application. With software inventions, a person skilled in the art typically refers to a computer programmer. Basically, […]