Effective Patent Filing Procedure

Dyson or Hoover? That rival was Hoover, who Dyson took to court in 2000 to sue them for patent infringement. Taking the right IP advice could mean your invention turns you into the next James Dyson!

How Patent Registration Helped Dyson Use Intellectual Property to Defend His Unique Idea

The first and the legal representative can file patent application in India or assignee of the inventor can file true inventor and it. To attempt to market an invention without covering the work with the shield of patent, trademark, copyright or trade secret protection indicates a frivolous approach that will not succeed. This type of patent differs from a Provisional Patent. Before making a final decision on your patent application, be sure you know the pros and cons of the different types of patent applications. For example, you may only need to file a provisional patent, thus saving you thousands of dollars. It gets your 'foot in the door' so to speak, when filed with and accepted by the Untied States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).Patent applications are now not examined automatically.

Is my invention patentable?

Step 2: Engaging IP Consultant: Patent drafting is an art and you need help of IP consultants to prosecute your patent application with the patent office.

Step 5: Drafting patent application: after establishing the novelty of the invention, next step is to draft the complete patent application. An experienced IP consultant will draft the application with broadest possible claims of the invention.

Step 6: Filling Patent Application: Once you are ready with the complete patent application, the patent attorney/patent agent can file it in the patent office along with required patent filling fees. You get the priority date of the invention from the filling date of the patent application.

Step 7: Publication of the patent application: After filing your patent application, the patent application is published after eighteen months from the date of filing.

Step 8: Patent Application Examination: After publication, next step is to examine the patentability of the invention by the patent office. The patent office will assign the patent application to a patent examiner to scrutinize your invention and to verify whether the invention is patentable or not. Now, you will get a patent number for the invention. Recently the Indian Patent Office published new draft manual;relating to the Patent Practice to be followed by the Indian Patent office.

A Discussion About Utility Patent And Provisional Application

Patent Search or Prior Art Search is the most important skill that beginning Patent Agents and Patent Analysts must learn.

The principles of Patent Search remains the same though the methods of doing the patent search will vary from database to database.

What is an Invention?

Is the invention patentable? If the examiner feels that the inventive step is established, you are likely to get a patent.

Patent Examiners determine Non Obviousness or Inventive Step by listing out the key features of the claimed invention first with respect to the priority date of the patent application.

The priority date of the patent application is the date on which it is first filed for patent protection in any patent office anywhere in the world.

Please note my words Invention as claimed and this means that only the claims made in the patent application will be examined for patent-ability by the Examiners and not the specification and other parts of the patent application. The other parts of the patent application must provide antecedent support to the claims. If the examiner is able to find prior art documents either from patent applications published earlier than the priority date of your patent application or technical journal articles published prior to priority date, for all the key features of the invention as explained above, he will combine the prior Art document A that teaches key feature 1, Document B that teaches key feature 2, Document C that teaches key feature 3, Document D that teaches key feature 4 and Document E that disclosed key feature 5. You learn to think like a Patent Examiner and examine like a Patent Examiner.

In my next article I will discuss the various Free Patent Databases available to do Patent Searches and I will proceed in future articles about the methodologies of doing Patent Search in a number of patent databases.

Patent Search - Why Should You Do Prior Art Searches?

Yes, there is another kind of patent present for the legal protection of the new invention. When it is the matter of provisional patent, then we must mention that it is never the part of any original patent. Because, provisional patent is valid only for 12 months. This patent is important to secure the early filing date for the follow-up patent application.

Obtaining a Provisional Patent

A provisional patent gives the inventor twelve months to file a full patent application. During this time the term patent pending is used.

Often a patent attorney is needed to research the proposed patent and to make the drawings.

Intellectual Property - Patent Law, Copyrights, and Trademarks

A provisional patent is somewhat like obtaining a placeholder patent. The provisional patent is an initial patent, that is similar to a regular patent and is subject to most patent infringement laws, but it will not turn into a typical patent with all the patent rights until the applicant takes additional steps. The U.S. Patent Office has high regulations regarding provisional patents and won't hand over a provisional patent unless it meets U.S. Patent Office requirements. This means that within a reasonable time frame the provisional patent holder still has the right to file with the U.S. Patent Office and obtain a regular patent. Patent lawyers recommend filing for a provisional patent first in many cases if the patent desired has a high likelihood of becoming someone else's very good idea. The U.S. Patent Office generally only permits provisional patents for a short time before the provisional patent holder is then required to take additional steps to obtain a regular patent. If the provisional patent holder fails to do so, then the next applicant if free to file for a patent without violating patent infringement laws.A patent lawyer can thoroughly explain all the details between a provisional patent and a regular patent. A patent lawyer can also determine whether a patent applicant is better served filing for a provisional patent first. It is not always in someone's best interest to file for a provisional patent with the U.S. Patent Office. Patent infringement laws are very stringent as well, and allows the U.S. Patent Office to be so tightly organized. Exceptions to patent infringement law would create patent pandemonium, which would be highly chaotic for inventors and potential patent holders.

Patent Infringement Law in India

A Patent Attorney should be well educated: Being a law graduate alone does not qualify one into a patent lawyer. A patent attorney with good grades in school is more likely to understand both the technical aspects and the legal implications on patent related cases.

A Patent Attorney Should Be Experienced: Due to the high demand for the patent attorneys, many people have come out and enrolled as patent agents.

Conclusion: Bear in mind that the outcome of your patent case is entirely pegged on the type of patent attorney you engage.

Qualities of a Good Patent Attorney

A patent confers the exclusive right on the patentee to make, distribute or sell the invention in India. An infringement would be when any of three rights is violated. In case of a process patent , the use of such a method or process in India by anyone other than the patentee amounts to infringement.

What can amount to infringement

(2) Immaterial variation in the invention.

Action of Infringement

The patentee has to institute a suit for infringement.

Section 104 of the Act provides that a suit for infringement shall not be instituted in any court inferior to a District Court having jurisdiction to try the suit. In appropriate cases where the High Court has original jurisdiction to try the suit. The suit shall be instituted in the High Court.

A suit for infringement can be instituted only after the patent has been sealed.

The period a limitation for instituting a suit for patent infringement is three years from the date of infringement.

Only the person who has a right in the patent can institute a suit for infringement.

(1) The patentee.

An assignee cannot sue for infringement which occurred prior to assignment.

How to tell if there is Patent Infringement rapidly and quickly

Should you file for a patent, and should you trademark the product's name?

Patent a New Product? First of all, you cannot actually "patent" a product or service. So if a company infringes on your patent, you will have to defend your patent through civil litigation. If the patent attorney or patent agent believes your invention can be patented, he will help you through the patent application process. A patent attorney is an attorney who specializes in what's called "patent prosecution," the process of applying for and receiving a patent. A patent agent is not an attorney, but is licensed to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office. To find a patent agent or patent attorney, use our free Patent Agent and Patent Attorney Referral Service.

Trademark a New Product? Just as you cannot patent a product - you can only patent the innovation behind the product you cannot trademark a product: You can only trademark the name (or brand) of the product. A product's technology can be patented while the product's name is not trademarked.

If your product utilizes a unique technology, patenting your invention makes sense.

Patent And-Or Trademark That New Product?

Comments on United States Patent Assignment Data

You will either register the name as a service mark or trademark.

Research and find out if your name is already being used. Start by looking up your potential trademark name on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website, at .

Comments on United States Patent Assignment InformationThe text below is a copy of an email that I sent the Patent Interference User's Group (PIUG) on November 4, 2003, regarding United States Patent Assignment Information. On that form, they write in the name they want to appear on the patent as the Assignee. The name shown as the assignee on an issued U.S. patent is not conclusive evidence that an assignment exists, and it is not conclusive evidence that the entity listed as the assignee is, even at the time of issuance of the patent, the owner of the patent. It is just a name. The assignment database generated by the USPTO shows the information the person filing a copy of the executed assignment writes on the "RECORDATION FORM COVER SHEET." The USPTO's assignment database does not include the actual assignment document. The USPTO stores image copies of the actual assignment documents on micro fiche available at the USPTO, indexed by reel/frame. You can identify allegedly assigned patents by searching the assignment database, and then pull up the ACTUAL assignment documents by the reel/frame associated with each patent number.

That assignment document would not result in a valid assignment, and B would not have valid title to the patent.