Encyclopedia of patent terms and Expressions

If you arrived at this site looking for information regarding . . . "patent information", "how to get a patent", "what is a patent", "getting a patent", "patent application form", "patent filing", "patent application drafting", "how to patent a product", "how to get patent rights", "where to get a patent", "patent application format",. . . and/or something similar, again, you are in the right place! 

MOST IMPORTANT RULE

All Utility patent applications must have a specification, drawings, and claims, among other things. However, the requirements for Provisional patent applications are much more flexible. For example, a Provisional application can be a company's pitch deck, and/or their business plan. While this is not optimal, and not in the right format to support a later Utility, its still better than nothing. Especially at a filing cost of only $70. There exist some important patent deadlines, too difficult to explain here, in which an inventor or company should make every effort to file something, even something imperfect, prior to these patent deadlines. If you want to know more about this, use the Contact Us to send us an e-email. We always respond to anyone who contacts us.

Below is an important link. While we seldom refer our clients to government statutes, as they can be quite dull, below is a link (we give you the full link) that really explains a lot about the US patent system, straight from the horse's mouth.

https://www.uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/patent-basics/types-patent-applications/nonprovisional-utility-patent

This section of the government statutes shows exactly what is required for a US patent application, from soup to nuts. All summarized on one (long) page. We have been using this specific page for years, and find it to be an invaluable resource.

If the above link doesn't work, click here.

We often get the inquiry "can you patent an idea without a prototype", and the answer is YES! The patent statutes requires only that you fully disclose the relevant features of an invention, there is no requirement that you actually build a version.  HOWEVER, the best advancements usually occur when someone has gone to the trouble of building something. Still, many many successful patents are Issued that were never ever built.

The queries "how to file a patent application", "how to apply for a patent", "how do i get something patented", "how do you file a patent", "patent filing procedure", and "how to file a patent" all have the same answer.

Its not easy, but you can do it yourself, at least at the provisional stage. OR, you can hire counsel. Either way, no matter what, there are a lot of steps, time, and expense in the patent process, and it will require a lot of work by the inventor. 

Regarding "do i need a patent", at a cost (FILING FEES only) of ($70 micro entity / $140 small entity), filing a patent application is probably a good inve$tment . But do NOT assume that having a patent will make your invention or business any more marketable. Patents usually have very little to do with whether an invention does well or not.

Also, a key part of this inquiry is the word "need". As is shown in our "Books and Media Helpful For Inventors" section (below), many successful inventors have not engaged with the patent system at all! Steven Key's book "Sell you Ideas With or Without a Patent" is excellent in every way except that the Title is misleading. All of the successes discussed in the book (we know the book well) involved selling WORKING INVENTIONS (not mere ideas) that had legitimate commercial interest. Accordingly, none of them were mere "ideas".

Regarding the queries "invention patent", "patent application", "patent my invention", "patent rights", "get patent", "invention process", "to patent something", "a patent", "how to patent your product", "patent system", "example of invention", "patent info", "apply for a patent", "patent your invention", this site certainly addresses these issues. 

However, without more information, its unclear where within this site to direct such inquiries. One possible response might be to direct them to an excellent YouTube video showing how a person can electronically file their own patent application themselves, without an attorney.

Regarding "patent prosecution", this is a fun expression, suggesting that the patent process has criminal (prosecution) aspects. It does not, but the word-pun is still amusing, as it sometimes feels like the Examiner is treating us as a criminal. You inventors may occasionally feel this way also, its quite common.

Regarding the queries "how to create a patent", "inventions and patents" (not the same, not synonymous), "how do i apply for a patent", "how to patent a surgical instrument", "patent application procedure", "how to write a patent", "patent application template", and "how to do a patent", this site includes template patent files and patent illustrations intended to clarify one potential format for a patent application. These are located here.

However, as always, the very best way to learn the format of a patent application is to read and understand Issued patents, particularly Issued patents in one's specific field. Full-text-searchable Issued patents are available for free at both USPTO.gov as well as patents.google.com. 

IMPORTANT: try to read as many patents in your field as you can! Not to overcome them as Prior Art, but instead to see the language, tone, and vernacular of a patent disclosure.

Regarding "patent document", "patent example", which we will interpret as "examples of Issued Patents", it is possible to review and download literally millions of patents from the US patent database, at uspto.gov. This includes full-searchable text versions. Every inventor should want to read lots of patents by other inventors, particular in their chosen field. Doing so can be very helpful in understanding how to set up a patent disclosure.

However, such reading should NOT be performed for providing assurance that "no one else has done this". That is an example of a false-assurance, and a misreading of the US patent database. Instead, such reading should be for understanding the format of a patent disclosure, of the drawings, and of various aspects of the patent process which can only be ingested by assimilation. 

The inventors who obtain the best grasp of the patent system usually get there partly by reading Issued patents in their field. 

Next, the inquiry "can you sell a patent" is perhaps mis-phrased. A better way to phrase the question would be "can you LICENSE a patent", and the answer would be YES. But the assumption here would be that the patent would be protecting a concept that is cash-flowing, and generating Actual (non-hypothetical) cash flowing into an Actual (non-hypothetical) bank account and being Declared on an Actual (non-hypothetical) Tax Return.

A mere patent, by itself, that is not associated with a commercially viable product, is very seldom worth anything. However, there is an entire industry based on asserting such unfulfilled patents in Federal Court. This is not a good business model, and is seldom successful at anything other than keeping attorneys busy.

Regarding the inquiry "patent office website", at least in the United States that website is USPTO.gov. All inventors interested in patent protection should be aware of this site. It is one of the most important sites inventors and counsel will ever use.

Regarding the inquiries "how do i patent something", "patent it myself", "intellectual property registration", "how patents work", "how do i get a patent for my idea", "patent something", "how do you get something patent", "how to file for patent", "how to get something patented", this site should be able to at least get someone started on responses to these inquiries. Again, leaving aside hiring counsel, this YouTube video showing how to use the US Patent Office Electronic Filing System (EFS) is a good place to start.

Moving to "working with the patent office", this is one one of our favorite inquiries. Nobody, absolutely no-one, gets a patent Issued without working with the Patent Office at least to some extent. You can either hire counsel, or do it yourself, but someone is going to be working with the Patent Examiner, or there will not be a Patent Issued. Know that. Accept that. Also be aware that the job of a patent Examiner is very tightly constrained, they have only a limited amount of flexibility to help you. 

The phrase "intellectual property  registration" is unclear, and its possible this refers to Trademarks rather than Patents. Anyone interested in more information about trademarks can check out this site, which again is mainly informational, intended to be used as a resource, contains lots of trademark examples, and is not trying to sell anything. The expression "register a patent" is occasionally used, and although it is slightly incorrect, most people will understand the intended meaning.

In the end, because these inquiries are kind of vague, its unclear where to further direct them.

For anyone wanting to file a patent themselves, electronically, this is an excellent YouTube video which shows how to do this. Beware, the process is difficult, and non-intuitive. Further, the YouTube video only show how to FILE the application and pay the fees, but does not discuss DRAFTING the application.

Moving on to the inquiries "how to register a patent", "patent register", and "patent registration process", the semantics of these inquiries are incorrect. Patents never get Registered, Patent applications (may) get Issued. Trademarks get Registered, and that is a very different process than patents. 

Instead, the inquiry will be read as "how to OBTAIN a patent", or better yet, "how to get a patent Issued". This requires full participation in the patent process, all the way through, including completely obeying the patent statutes for Utility patent applications. Meanwhile, the information within this site is directed more for inventors wanting to file for provisional patent.

Regarding the inquiries "intellectual property patent law", "patent yourself", "us patents", "patent process", "patent an invention", "obtaining a patent", "how do you apply for a patent", "how to patent your invention", "patent writing", "file for patent", "patent law", "process of getting a patent", "american patent", "how to file a patent application", these appear to refer to the patent filing process itself, for the most part. If so, an excellent YouTube video exists very clearly demonstrating how the Electronic Filing Process works. No attorney is required. The landing (front) page of this website points to a YouTube channel which makes this video available. The video was created by the Inventors Learning Center (inventorslc.com), an non-profit organization which tries to help inventors. In many ways, their site is an even better resource for inventors than this site.

COSTS OF FILING FOR PATENT

If you arrived at this site inquiring as to "patent attorney fees", "how much is a patent", "patent price", "cost to patent an idea", "how much it cost to patent an idea", "how much does it cost to get a patent", "how much is a provisional patent", "how much does it cost to file a patent", "how much is it to patent an idea", "patent cost", "provisional patent application cost", "app patent cost", "how much does a patent cost", "how much does a provisional patent cost", "cheap patents", "how much to patent an app", "how much does it cost to file a provisional patent", "how much does it cost to get something patented",

"how much is a patent cost", "cheap patent", "how expensive is a patent", "how much to get a patent", "how much does it cost to patent an idea worldwide", "cost to file a patent",

"how much to patent a product", "how much does it cost to patent an app", "how much is it to get a patent", "cost to file provisional patent", "patents cheap", "cost to get a patent", "how much does it cost to patent a product", and/or something similar, then the answer will be the same. 

No attorney will quote you out a rate until they have some idea of how much work needs to be done.

Two of the biggest factors in determining your costs are:

  1) how developed is your invention, how far along is it, and

  2) how much of the work are you willing to learn and do yourself?  That is, what materials exactly are you going to hand over to the patent professional.

Every single patent professional on earth will want/need to know this, before giving you a cost-estimate. The creators of this website are no different. 

Information about the costs of a typical patent application can be found by doing a Google search using "typical patent costs".

It has been our experience that most Utility patent applications do not cost less than $3000, and the expenses do not stop with filing. Further, it is preferred that a utility application have at least 20 pages of disclosure and at least 15 drawings. One should plan on waiting at least 2 years, and considerable other expenses, before a patent (if any) Issues.

An interesting set of alternatives can be found on Fiverr.com, in which service providers offer to file a Utility application in the range of $300. It is unclear how exactly they achieve this, and unclear how many of these applications ever result in an actual Issued patent.

PATENT SEARCHES

Again, in order to fulfill SEO requirements, below is a list of term to illustrate to SEO engines that this page likely will have high relevancy for the searcher.  Its not possible to use every one of these search terms in a sentence, and numerous of them contain improper word-usage and misuse patent terms.  For me to find my audience, and my audience to find me, I need to include this metadata in the body of my web-pages. If there were another easier way to alert the search engines, I have yet to hear of it.

Regarding any searches using keywords "patent check", "patent search tools", "ip search", "patent filing search", "food patent examples", "patent prior art", "patent prior art search", "prior art", "patent evaluation", "how to find a patent, "patent research", "provisional patent search", "patent lookup", "advanced patent search", "patent search services", "ip patent search", "uspto patent application search", "how to check if a product is patented", "how to research patents", "patent application search", and "patent search cost", well, you are in the right place!  These are extremely salient and relevant queries, requiring careful consideration and are important to discuss.

First, every single inventor should know how to use the patent search database at uspto.gov, and should not rely on counsel or someone else to understand how this resource works. Its too important. All inventors should learn this.

Next, regarding "provisional patent search", provisional applications are not published and thus cannot be searched. There is no way to independently affirm or verify that someone has filed Provisionally without seeing their filing Receipt. Still, we include this Keyword in the body of this webpage, because a lot of people enter this keyword and we want the SEO to be aware that this page contains a proper response.

If you queried any of the below, you are in the right place! The list includes "patent check", "patent search tools", "ip search", "patent filing search", "food patent examples", "patent prior art", "sell your idea without a patent", "patent prior art search", "prior art", "patent evaluation", "how to find a patent", "patent research", "provisional patent search", "patent lookup", "advanced patent search", "patent search services", "ip patent search" "uspto patent application search", "how to check if a product is patented", "how to research patents", "patent application search", "patent search cost".

Lets get the bad news out right away. Doing a patent search has value, but not for the reasons you likely think. This is an area that inventors are consistently mistaken.

First, any search performed by an inventor usually means absolutely nothing to the patent Examiner, who will do his/her own search. This will likely be a much better search. As a former Examiner I sometimes do searches for clients, but am always careful to educate my client that it doesn't matter what we find or don't find.

The job of a patent Examiner is, among other things, to guard the US Patent System from Allowances that should not have happened. This protects the integrity of the US patent system. But it also means that all applicants should plan to be Rejected on their First, Second, and usually Third Office Actions (documents from the patent Examiner). 

This means it will be years before anyone gets a patent, and only after a lot of rejection and expense. A quick guide to effective patent searching can be found here. 

I have been practicing patent law for >23 years. I often act as an inventor's "second patent attorney" because a) their first patent attorney $charged $too $much, and b) did not properly communicate how the patent system really works. And then the inventor fired that law firm, and went looking for someone else to clean up the mess. That someone else is often this law firm.

One of the biggest cons we see is attorneys selling an innocent, naive inventor a $2000 patent search. They convince the inventor that their chances of getting a patent are relatively high, based on this search.

What these attorneys don't properly communicate is that the chances of getting a patent are directly proportional to length and depth of disclosure. That means the patent disclosure should have at least 20 pages of text-Description and at least 15 pages of Drawings. This clear, easy-to-understand metric has a far, FAR higher correlation with success at getting a patent application Allowed than ANY search of ANY kind. Meanwhile, patent searches are never described as a "clear, easy-to-understand metric", because they are not. They are vague, indefinite, by their nature highly speculative, and close to useless. Don't buy one of these!

Inventors: always make your patent disclosures long, with a lot of depth. Lots of drawings and text. Always. This is the single biggest indicator, by far, as to whether someone will get a patent or not. Not a Patent Search that you performed yourself! Those don't mean anything to the Patent Office!  Yet all patent Applicants are required by Federal Law to submit all Patent Searches to the Examiner. Failure to do this is a Federal Offense (35 CFR 1.56, AKA "Rule 56"). 

This is one of the single biggest myths and canards in the entire patent/invention industry, and we see this much more than other problems and disappointments. Even if the search had favorable results, if the attorney wrote the patent disclosure to be too brief, not enough embodiments, not enough variations, not enough drawings, not enough pages, these inventors often don't get a patent. Despite the favorable search results, many inventors do not get a patent! And they are upset!

Next, be aware, patent Examiners do not just search patents for their Prior Art Rejections, but also search YouTube, Amazon, Kickstarter, eBay, Instagram, Google, and many other non-patent resources. These can yield an immense amount of useful information and Prior Art.   With the area of Mobile App inventions (tens of thousands of Mobile Apps have patent protection), an inventor can plan on the patent Examiner researching and asserting other Mobile Apps found in either iTunes, Google Play, or other Mobile App repositories.

This is discussed elsewhere in this site in more detail, but we include a brief link here because we get so many questions about it.