Do you have an inventive idea and want to get a patent?
I want to introduce the “Provisional Patent Application” to you so that you can see how you can have a path to protect your inventive idea without spending a ton of money!
Did you know that the Patent Laws are changing as you read this from “First to Invent” to a “First to File” meaning that the first person to “File” a patent application will be the person to be awarded the patent, NOT the first person to “INVENT” the idea. Gone will be the need to maintain “Inventor’s Notebooks” to prove YOU invented the idea.
This puts the USA right in line with the rest of the planet. Some say this is bad and some say it is good. In the end the “solution” for you, the inventor, is to take advantage of the Provisional Patent Application process and file your application TODAY to protect your inventive idea.
Personally, I like the idea of a “First to File” because the Provisional Patent Application makes it EASY for individual inventors to level the playing field with the “Big Buys” for a measly $110. This means you might have an idea for something a big company like Ford Motor Company would use and YOU could own the patent rights to that inventive idea because you filed your PPA for a measly $110.
Of course, the PPA is just an application that allows you to claim priority to your PPA with a filing of a Non-Provisional Patent application, NPPA, within 1 year of your PPA filing date. The reason the USPTO requires that you file a NPPA within 1 year is so that you have time to secure funding so that filing of the NPPA will not be of concern cost wise.
Additionally, the PPA is an extraordinary “defensive” tool that can actually cover more than one inventive idea in a SINGLE PPA filing. What this means to you is
Did you know that the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office, USPTO, was mandated by Congress to make filing a Provisional Patent Application very EASY for independent inventors just like you?
The problem is when the US Government tries to make anything “easy” it is actually “harder” to do it unless someone shows you how to do whatever. In the end, no matter how you choose to file your PPA it is always a good idea to understand the process BEFORE you hire a lawyer or try to file one yourself. The USPTO has a pretty nice website for patent
After all, aren’t you the inventor who knows EVERYTHING about your invention?
