GETTING THROUGH THE PATENT MAZE
If You Need Help Understanding the Patent Process, Read On.
By Ken Tarlow
PART ONE
In the next couple of issues, we'll look at some practical steps to help steer you through the patent process with your new product.
Step #1--Make Sure Your Invention is Practical
Under the conditions of the patent law, your discovery must also be "useful." This means that your product must have a purpose and must work. The process of making sure that your invention will work to perform its useful purpose is called "reduction to practice."
Importantly, it is not always necessary to actually reduce your invention to practice. You may use lab tests to demonstrate the usefulness, or the filing of the patent application is, under the law, a constructive reduction to practice.
If you think your invention is both useful and operative, and you can demonstrate that it indeed can be used successfully for its intended purpose, you should do one more thing before proceeding to the next step in seeking patent protection. THIS IS THE RIGHT TIME TO DO A PRELIMINARY SEARCH OF EXISTING LITERATURE AND PATENTS.
Quite simply, maybe someone else has already had the same idea, and received a patent for it. Later, if this is not the case, after you have tested your idea, you will need to do a more extensive search. At this point, however, you should follow the practice of industrial researchers and conduct a preliminary literature search to determine that in fact your idea has not already been described. It would not be a wise investment of time without knowing that your idea was novel.
Step #2--Keep Records That Document Your Discovery
It is important to keep accurate records documenting your progress on the invention. Make a complete written description, with drawings and photographs (if appropriate) at all stages of your experimentation.
Keep any correspondence about your work, sales receipts from materials, and any other records that might help you prove the facts and dates of your accomplishments. Get at least one trusted person who can understand your invention and corroborate your work and have that witness sign and date your written description of your project. Then sign the records yourself and affix the date. This should be done in a composition book with a sewn binding, so pages cannot be inserted or removed.
If another inventor should come up with "your invention" at about the same time, the records could be relied upon to establish who was the first inventor.
At this stage, you should be secretive about your work. Quite simply, when in doubt, don't disclose information about your invention. If you describe your invention in a printed publication, or if you use it publicly or place it on sale, you must apply for a patent within a year of the public disclosure. Otherwise, your right to patent the invention in the U.S. will be lost.
Importantly, although you have a one-year grace period in the U.S. after public disclosure or sale, a public disclosure even one day before filing your patent application can bar the patent in foreign countries. No other country provides the grace period extended in the United States.
NEXT ISSUE: More Patent Steps
The above article was excerpted from Ken Tarlow's MIND TO MONEY, a workbook package that can help you develop a new product from the idea stage to the marketplace. MIND TO MONEY may be ordered from the Dream Merchant at $59.95 plus $4.95 CA sales tax and$5 shipping and handling ($69.90 total). Send orders to the Dream Merchant, 2309 Torrance Blvd., Suite 104, Torrance, CA 90501.
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