Introduction
In case you may be wondering what a patent is, it is a grant from the federal government giving you rights to keep others from either making, selling or using your invention of the patent. This grants you a legal monopoly which runs for a specified duration during which you become the owner of the patent. By giving you this power of excluding others from either making, selling or using your invention, this does not, at any time, mean that you get the privilege of making, selling or using the patent; at least not immediately. There is something called a caveat that you have to think about. Also, you are given the green light for production only if and when you are not infringing on other existing patents. At first sound, one may think that patent issues are easy to comprehend and tackle. However, this last turn of events enhances the importance of the patent attorney. It is important to note that other than trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, patents are one of the four legal remedies that are used to protect intellectual property from people who might wish to steal creativity away from others.
Different types of patents
When it comes to patents, there are different types. There are utility patents, design patents and plant patents. A utility patent is given to people how either discover or invent new processes or things. It is usually granted for a period of twenty years after which it is placed in the public domain.
The design patent pertains to the protection of originality when it comes to manufactured products. The duration for these patents is 14 years within which protection as to how a product looks or appears is given.
The plant patent protection caters for plants; that is it protects new varieties of plants from being asexually reproduced either through grafting or cross breeding. It lasts for twenty years.
Applicants and process of a patent
Qualified applicants in this regard are the people responsible for invention. This might be an individual or joint effort. In case the inventor wants to sell the patent rights to a third party. This happens when a company does not want to incur the costs that come with obtaining a patent.
A patent is estimated to cost between $5,000 to $50,000. When applying, you need to ensure that the invention is practical in that it has a good chance of having competitive advantage in the market and that it is both relevant and of benefit to the society at large. You also need to document when the invention was made which is done on an invention logbook. The third thing is to hire a patent attorney. As mentioned earlier, patents can be very complicated in terms of process. Therefore, do not give in to the idea of doing it yourself, to save yourself from confusion and expensive mistakes. Before you begin the process of patenting, your patent attorney needs to do a patent search to make sure that your invention is separate and distinguished from what already exists. This can take time, and one of the places to go on the web is uspto.com. After this, you shall be required to file a patent application which again may be highly technical and be in need of a patent attorney. Thereafter, a serial number will be given to your patent, as well as a person assigned to examine it.
Patent attorney
After reading this, you must be asking yourself how you can get yourself a patent attorney. This usually comes with a lot of caution in terms of whether or not the attorney can be trusted. To find yourself one, you can start by searching the internet or the yellow pages. This however comes with some level of risk given the fact that the attorney that is in need of more clients spends more on advertising. This can interpreted to mean that they might not be very popular on their service or might be relatively new and less experienced in the service. Be careful to check the level of training and experience of the patent attorney. You should also check on what the general pricing is for a patent attorney. If it is too high, you can shop for one that is within the market range. If it is below the market rate, do not rush here to make money. The low price might be a reflection of the type of service rendered.
