Patents for your business

A patent will help you protect your invention, process (typically industrial or technical processes), machine, manufacture (articles that are made), chemical compositions, and new and useful improvements of them.

For patent protection, the work must satisfy the following criteria:

• It should be a novelty—new, not previously patented or described.
• It should not obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the technology area of the invention.
• It should be practical—have a useful purpose—and it must perform its intended purpose.

What Cannot Be Patented?

• Works of authorship or items that are normally protected by copyrights.
• Trademarks, logos, short phrases, slogans, names, or titles.
• Inventions that will not work.
• Laws of nature.

Types of Patents

• Utility Patent for machine inventions or processes (chemical, mechanical or electrical).
• Design Patent for ornamental designs for articles of manufacture.
• Plant Patents to anyone who discovers and asexually reproduces (reproduce by means other than seeds) a new variety of plants.

Duration of Patents

• Twenty years from the date of application for utility and plant patents.
• Fourteen years from the date of application for design patents.

Applying for a Patent

You can use the Electronic Filing System (EFS) to file patent applications (http://www.uspto.gov/ebc/efs/). Here you can submit:

• Patent Applications.
• Provisional Applications.
• Electronic Information Disclosure Statements.
• Patent Assignments.
• Computer-Readable Format.
•  Bio-sequence Listing.
• Pre-Grant Publications Submissions.

You cannot use the EFS for the following applications:

• Design Applications.
• New Plant Applications.
• Reissue Applications.
• International Patent Cooperative Treaty Applications.
• Re-examination Requests.

It is recommended that you seek a lawyer’s assistance to help you navigate the patent application process. You can find a list of lawyers available on the U.S. patent and trademark office Web site at http://www.uspto.gov. You will also find the application fee schedule.