Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet!

How to apply for a US Patent ?

Patenting an invention in the USA carries a lot of risks. This topic is not for faint heart. Before going ahead, make sure you understand all the pitfalls revealed in Nesta's website. According to this website, US patent law differs significantly from the rest of the world. Key differences include:

• A US patent application is not published until grant. A published US patent application is always a granted US patent application. As a result, no information at all is available about it before then. This creates a problem when you’re searching for prior art; the prior art may already exist, but it may not be undetectable.

• An inventor can file a patent application up to one year after disclosing the invention. In this respect US patent law is much more helpful to inventors, giving them extra time and freedom to explore commercial possibilities before the patent is validly granted.

• The inventor can discountinue a US application and file a ‘continuation’ application with the filing date of your first application. Or if you want to add more technical detail, you can file a ‘continuation in part’ application, containing both the original and the additional information. Unlike the UK or the European Patent Laws, the US patent laws allow inventors to add technical details in the newly filed applications.

• An US court can invalidate if the count believe that the applicant behaves ‘improperly’ - for example by not naming the correct inventor(s), not revealing all the relevant prior art he or she knows of, or not describing the ‘best mode’ of operating the invention. This gives competitors or predators considerable scope to challenge your US patent. Since legal disputes usually end up to a financial fight, the US patent system tends to favor the rich.

• In disputes about origin, the UK or Europen Patent Laws dictate that the inventor is whoesver files the priority application first. But in the USA it’s whoever invents first. The standard of proof involves a lot of laboratory paper work counter-signed by witnesses and, as such, non-US inventors rarely meet it. For example, you must record what you do in bound notebooks with no missing pages and no alterations, and entries must be corroborated and signed within a few days by someone who is not directly connected with the idea but can understand how it works. (This is ridiculus. If a holder of an US patent used to work alone without anyone around, does it mean he/she can never win any patent litigation. )

Non-US citizens should never embark on a US patent application without specialist advice. In the UK this normally involves your UK patent agent liaising with a US patent attorney. Patenting and selling in the USA carries a lot of risk because the USA is a highly litigious society in which many lawyers operate on ‘no win, no fee’ terms. Someone may therefore challenge your patent or product on the flimsiest grounds if they have nothing to lose and much to gain.

If you seriously want to get a US patent without patent agent help, follow the following link:

http://www.tutorial-reports.com/innovation/patent/howtogetus.php