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Important Patent Considerations for Startups and Inventors

Creating something unique to ultimately serve as a source of income is a process fraught with a variety of pitfalls. Perhaps the most significant of all is insufficient knowledge. Particularly when it comes to patent law and the process of successfully filing a patent, there is a relatively steep learning curve that first must be traversed. It isn’t the kind of process that’s advisable to simply makeup as you go along – unless you’re happy to accept any number of setbacks and delays along the way.

Above and beyond most considerations however, there are a few essentials when it comes to patents that are critically important startups and inventors to acknowledge and understand. They are not particularly complicated considerations, but can nonetheless have a huge impact on what happens next.

1. Admissions

Don’t let it scare you off, but you’ll need to take into account the fact that penning a patent filing is a lot like making a sworn declaration. That being, that absolutely everything you include can and possibly will be brought up at a later time for any number of reasons. As such, you need to think extremely carefully about your admissions in the patent filing, in order to ensure that there is nothing in there that could possibly get you in trouble further down the line.

2. First Come, First Served

On one hand, filing a patent before whatever it is you are patenting is worth patenting isn’t necessarily a good idea. For that matter, nor is rushing any part of the process simply to ensure that you are first in line when it comes to patenting your idea. That being said, the patenting process always has been and always will be something of a first come, first served endeavour. There are various reasons why businesses and inventors put off filing patents for any given period of time, only to discover when the time comes that they have been beaten to the punch. And when this happens, there is very little you can do about it. Quality patent proofreading software can often help speed up the process when time is a factor.

Provisional Patent Applications

While there may be no such thing as a provisional patent as such, there are certain jurisdictions in which provisional patent applications both exist and can be extremely useful. This basically allows the business or inventor to submit an application and receive an early filing date, though the actual patent itself does not come into effect until the non-provisional application is filed. This is where the term ‘Patent Pending’ comes in – as in you have indicated your intention to file a patent with the required details to do so, though may decide to make changes as necessary before going ahead.

Plentiful Patent Drawings

You know how it is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words? In the world of patent applications, a picture can be worth more than a million. The simple fact of the matter is that there is no such thing as accompanying your patent application with too many patent drawings. Be sure to seek the required support and assistance if your own sketching skills are not up to scratch.

Be Specific

Last but not least, while many businesses and inventors admit that they would rather their patent applications not come across as too specific and precise, this is exactly what a patent application needs to be. Broad patents are extremely difficult to obtain and end up having the reverse effect by narrowing the rights of the patent holder in question. If you are unable or unwilling to be specific, then right now may not be the time to file a patent application at all.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Leonid Singha .