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"Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point
where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's
not the place to become discouraged."
Thomas Edison
Help With Your First Invention - What Can I Patent
Introduction
Very often people are confused regarding what is patentable and what is not.
Can a mathematician patent his newly developed differential equation or a
computer designer patent a newly created mouse cursor? Or can famed hockey
player patent his worldly renowned slap shot? In order to answer questions
like these, we need to discuss what can (and cannot) be Patented.
United States Patent And Trademark
Office(USPTO) groups patents into three categories: Utility, Design and Plant.
Of these, the most popular is the Utility Patent and the least popular is the
Plant Patent.
Plant Patents
Plant Patents are granted to those who managed to cultivate a new variety of plants.
According to USPTO, Plant Patent is
given "to anyone who has invented or discovered and asexually reproduced any
distinct and new variety of plant, including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids,
and newly found seedlings, other than a tuber-propagated plant or a plant found
in an uncultivated state."
Design Patent
When discussing Design Patent, one need to carefully consider definition of the word
"Design". According to USPTO, "A Design consists of the visual ornamental characteristics
embodied in, or applied to, an article of manufacture". Let me illustrate this with
example - have you even found yourself looking at the design of a brand new car,
designer eye-frame or contemporary modern furniture? These are examples of things that
benefited from the beautiful design which, in most cases, was patented. Incidentally,
a computer designer who worked hard on creating new Computer icons can also apply and
receive a Design Patent.
Utility Patents
Utility Patents are most popular type of Patents granted by the USPTO. When
discussing Patents, one envisions complicated machinery with intricate moving
parts or a newly designed acoustic amplifier built with next generation vacuum
tubes. These are examples of Utility Patents. In order to qualify for Utility
Patent, Invention must observe one or more of the following:
Must be a method Or Process that leads to useful and predictable results
be a Machine (with mechanical or electrical parts)
Be an Article of manufacture (example: computer chip)
A New Composition of Matter
Other Properties of Utility Patents
In addition to the above mentioned items, an Invention must be
Non-trivial
Useful
Novel
Now I will try to elaborate on each one of the above mentioned items.
Non-trivial
What if an inventor decided to replace a part in existing invention with the
new one, of different color - should we classify this as invention? Of course
not! An invention has to be non-obvious to someone who is skilled in the field
of the invention.
Usefulness
In addition to been Non-trivial, Invention has to be Useful, beneficial to the
society and produce results. A water-repellent towel or invention that involves
an extremely dangerous substance might be rejected by the USPTO.
Novel
An invention is considered novel if it wasn't known, written or discussed prior
to Inventor submitting it to the Patent Office. According to USPTO, patent will
not be granted if
1. The invention was known or used by others in this country, or patented or
described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country, before the
invention thereof by the applicant for patent," or
2. "the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or
a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country more than one year
prior to the application for patent in the United States…"
Summary
As one may see, an Invention needs so satisfy numerous criteria before USPTO
considers it and grants Patent to the Inventor. A good Inventor should research
every item outlined in this article very carefully, spending time on each one of
them. In addition, a recommended approach is to document all your thoughts and
findings on paper. You may find later on, when you are preparing your Patent
Application, that documentation you've produced during discovery stage is highly
valuable and can assists you in clearly formulating your ideas and thoughts.
You may forget some of the items that you've discovered and uncovering them
usually reaps great reward!
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