Provisional Patent Applications

How Much Does It Cost To File A U.S. Utility Patent Application? The answer to this question depends on the size of the entity filing, who is drafting and filing the U.S. Utility patent application, and the details of the U.S. utility patent application itself. USPTO Fees: The USPTO fees for filing a U.S. utility patent application depend on the size of the business (entity) who owns the U.S. utility patent application. The general filing fees are as follows: $1,600 for a large entity (generally over 500 employees), $800 for a small entity (generally less than 500 employees), or $400 for a micro entity (generally university owned or licensed, non-profit, or where each inventor has filed less than 4 U.S. patent applications). The Details Of the Patent Application Itself: USPTO fees can increase based on many factors, including expedited fees, number of pages, number and type of claims, and how the application was filed. Patent Attorney Fees: If you hire a U.S. patent attorney or a U.S. patent agent to draft and file your U.S. utility patent application, then they usually list their service fees separately from the USPTO fees. According to the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) 2015…

How Do You Apply For A U.S. Utility Patent Application? You can hire a U.S. patent attorney or U.S. patent agent to draft and file one for you, OR If you are an inventor or assignee (owner), you can draft and file a U.S. utility patent application representing yourself (not your company). Due the complexity of patent law, I highly encourage you to hire a U.S. patent attorney or U.S. patent agent to draft and file your U.S. utility patent application. READY TO TALK? Call me direct at 832-621-0353 or email me to schedule a FREE, no-obligation consultation. If you decide to file your own U.S. utility patent application, you can click on this link for guidance from the USPTO.

Why Should You File A U.S. Utility Patent Application? To Get A Limited Monopoly: A U.S. utility patent application can issue as a U.S. Patent, and a U.S. Patent can be used to sue or threaten to sue others in the U.S. for practicing your invention. If your market analysis indicates that your invention would provide you with a commercial advantage in the U.S., then a U.S. Patent can give you a monopoly over that commercial advantage for the life of your patent. To Get Investors: Many inventors require that you protect your innovations and future profits by applying for patents before they will invest in your company. To Showcase Innovation: Many companies use patents as marketing tools that indicate how innovative the company is during a period of time. To Sell Or Rent: A U.S. utility patent application is a type of intellectual property that you can sell (assign) or license (rent) to make money or at least offset the cost of your research expenses. To Get Regulatory Exclusivity: For products (e.g., drugs) that require regulatory approval from the Food and Drug Agency (FDA), you can get the drug approved and have a patent that covers that drug listed…

When Should You File A U.S. Utility Patent Application? That answer depends on your situation. You can file a U.S. utility patent application as soon as you draft claims that will protect and define your invention, AND you can describe to a person skilled the art how to make and use the invention as described in your claims. However, once a U.S. utility patent application is filed, then you cannot easily add subject matter to your application. Therefore, it becomes a balancing act. Filing later allows you to fully develop your inventive product and evaluate the market for your invention. Filing sooner deceases the threat getting scooped by someone else. If you filed a provisional patent application, then you may want to file your U.S. utility patent application within a year, otherwise, your provisional patent application will lapse and you will lose your priority date. Still another consideration is when you want to sue or threaten to sue others for practicing your invention without your permission. You cannot sue others until a U.S. patent issues from your U.S. utility patent application. Of course, costs are also a consideration.

Where Can You File A U.S. Utility Patent Application? All U.S. utility patent applications must be filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). All utility patent applications must be filed in the USPTO either directly using a U.S. non-provisional utility patent application or indirectly by filing a PCT application AND then a U.S. national stage application. A U.S. utility patent application can provide protection across the entire USA, because a U.S. utility patent can be enforced across the entire USA. A U.S. utility patent cannot be used to sue competitors in any other country. Also, an inventor, a U.S. patent attorney, or a U.S. patent agent can file your application by mail, fax, or on the Internet from anywhere across the U.S. or around the world.

What Is A U.S. Utility Patent Application? A U.S. Utility patent application is an official request for a U.S. utility patent. A U.S. utility patent application is an official request for the U.S. government to grant you the right to exclude others from practicing your invention for the life of any patent that issues from your U.S. utility patent application. Basically, the U.S. government wants to encourage inventors to innovate and publicly disclose new inventions. In exchange for your teaching the public how to make and use your invention, the U.S. Government may grant you a U.S. patent that will allow you to sue others for making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing your claimed invention without your permission. There are three types of U.S. patents. A utility patent protects functional inventions. Design patents protect the non-functional appearance of inventions. Plant patents protect new plants that you discover or invent.

U.S. Utility Patent Applications: What You Need To Know To Protect Your Invention And Your Profits. Who Can File A U.S. Utility Patent Application? An inventor or assignee (owner) who wants to obtain patent protection in the USA. Only an inventor or assignee (owner) of an invention can file for a U.S. utility patent application. You cannot apply for a patent for someone else's invention. However, an inventor can agree to assign any invention to you and then you will own the patent application that gets filed.

How To Avoid Provisional Patent Application Scams. Be Deeply Suspicious of Service Fees Of Less Than $3,000: According to the AIPLA, the average service fee for drafting and filing a provisional patent application is about $4,000. Why are they so much lower? Would you rather pay $4,000 for a provisional patent application that might protect your invention or $3,000 for a pretty, but useless provisional patent application? Is it worth risking your invention, your business, and your projected profits to save a couple of hundred dollars? Look For Your Claims: Scam artists and disreputable patent attorneys delight in telling people that provisional patent applications do not technically require claims. Similarly, you are not technically required to wear a parachute when jumping out of a plane at 30,000 feet. But isn’t a good idea? The claims define your invention. No Claims = No Invention. Your claims are only part of the patent application that will protect your invention. No Claims Language = No Written Description = No Priority Date = No Protection. Any reputable patent attorney will start the application drafting process by drafting your claims and then building the application to support your claims. Look on the last couple of…

Provisional Patent Application + Greedy Patent Attorney = Useless Provisional Patent Application. These scams create a problem of sticker shock. According to the AIPLA (American Intellectual Property Law Association) 2015 survey, the median cost of having a patent attorney draft and file a provisional patent application ranges from $2,000 to $6,000. It is just too difficult for many startups and entrepreneurs to pay this price after seeing so many advertisements on Google or in magazines that promise to prepare and file a provisional patent application for just $100 to $3,000. This is where the greedy, lazy patent attorney comes in. There are some patent attorneys who could do a good job, but choose not to. All that have to do is to quickly draft something that could fool the untrained eye into believing that the provisional patent application will protect their invention. Then they can charge $1000 - 4,000 and pocket the difference. These sleazy patent attorneys know that they will not be caught because provisional patent applications are not published, most provisional patent applications are not relied on or examined, and even if they are, over 75% of startups fail. I guess it’s just too tempting for them to…

Provisional Patent Application Scams: Reading This Page Can Save Your Invention And Thousands Of Dollars. Don't Let This Happen To You! The founder of a startup contacted me for a free, no-obligation consultation. He was founding a tech startup company based on his own invention. He paid an out of state patent attorney $500 to draft and file a provisional patent application for him. After filing his provisional patent application, he spent the next year pitching his invention to investors and potential customers. He came to me because he wanted a local patent attorney to file a U.S. utility patent application based on his provisional patent application. I took a look at his provisional patent application so that I could provide him with an accurate estimate. When I Saw Left Me Stunned! His provisional patent application looked like little more an abstract. There were no claims. There was no description of how to make and use the claimed invention. It probably looked great to the untrained eye, but to the trained eye, it was completely useless. His provisional patent application wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Oh wait! It gets worse! The founder thought that the provisional patent…