Patent Process

Patents are an exclusive right granted by the federal government to the inventors of new and useful machines, articles, substances or processes.

The patent right is offered as an incentive for inventors to disclose how to make and use their inventions.

To receive a patent, inventors must apply to the federal government. The term of the exclusive right lasts for 20 years from the date when the application is filed.

If the patent is granted, the government publishes a full description of the invention and its use in the patent disclosure.

Patent Applications

Patents are only issued after an administrative application procedure has been completed in the United States Patent Office. The inventor must submit an application fully describing and explaining the invention, and setting out the limits of technology being claimed. Patent examiners have technical training in many different fields, and each application is assigned to an examiner who is knowledgeable in that particular type of technology.

The patent examiner performs a search to see if the same or similar technology has already been claimed in a patent or publicly disclosed in other types of publications.

If the patent examiner has objections to the application, you can:

• Amend the claims of the application in order to meet the examiner's objections
• Attempt to convince the examiner that the application meets the requirements of the patent law
• Start an appeals process

Preparing a Patent Application

Drafting successful patent applications requires not only an understanding of patent law, but also knowledge of the technology being described and claimed. For this reason, patent agents and attorneys must have scientific or engineering training.

Scope of a Patent

As in copyright cases, there is no such thing as a worldwide patent. Successful applications to the United States Patent Office will result in a patent that is good only in the United States. If you want patent protection in other countries, you must apply for a patent in the patent office of each country.

Time Period for Applying for Patent

Inventors must be extremely careful about their activities prior to applying for a patent. The United States gives an inventor a one-year grace period, after an invention has been publicly disclosed, to apply for a patent. The clock on this grace period starts running when you:

• Place the invention on sale
• Publish a description of the invention
• Offer a detailed description of the invention at a public meeting
• Place the invention into the hands of the public

If the inventor doesn't apply for a patent within a year of public disclosure, the opportunity to get a patent is permanently lost.

Priority of Invention

When two inventors develop identical inventions at about the same time, most countries will grant a patent for such an invention to the inventor who files their application first. The United States may allow a subsequent inventor to prove that they invented the invention before the first applicant.

U.S. Patent Office proceedings to determine priority of invention are called interferences. These proceedings are complicated legal contests, similar to litigation, and may take years to resolve.

Employee Inventors

United States law requires that a patent bear the name of the inventor of the claimed invention. Sometimes the employer may agree to share royalties with the employee, or offer a bonus or other reward in exchange for the assignment of the rights in the patent. However, no matter what type of arrangement the inventor has with his or her employer, the employer's name cannot be substituted for that of the inventor on the patent.

Sherrie Bennett is the former director and staff attorney at the University of Washington Student Legal Services in Seattle.