|
How does the patent
process work?
After an inventor conceives an idea, he/she may decide to protect the
idea by pursuing a patent. Typically, the inventor approaches a patent
attorney with the idea and requests a prior art search. The prior art
search is a search for patents and/or technical literature that may
affect the ability of the inventor to obtain a patent on the idea. If
the prior art search does not turn up any documents that would adversely
affect the inventor's ability to obtain a patent, the drafting of the
application is begun.
Each patent application includes a specification, any necessary
drawings, an oath or declaration, and U.S. Government filing fees. Each
patent application is afforded a date of filing that is the date on
which the specification, drawings and at least one claim is received in
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (U.S. PTO). The filing date is
important for establishing a date of invention with the U.S. PTO.
The specification should include at least a title, background of the
invention, summary of the invention, brief description of the drawings,
detailed description of the invention, claims, and an abstract. The
detailed description must describe the invention in great enough detail
to enable a person skilled in the art to which the invention pertains to
be able to make and use the invention without excessive experimentation.
The claims set forth the metes and bounds of the invention by
particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming what the inventor
regards as his invention.
Once a patent application has been filed with the U.S. PTO, the
application is assigned to a specific examining group art unit and
examined. A member of the group art unit known as an Examiner begins the
examination process by determining whether the application has all the
required elements. The Examiner also conducts a prior art search.
If the application is not in condition for allowance, the Examiner will
issue an Official Action setting forth the reasons for rejecting or
objecting to the application. Official Actions may include restrictions
or election of species requirements. This means that multiple inventions
are included in the application, and the applicant must choose one to be
examined. Other non-elected inventions may be pursued in divisional
patent applications. The Official Action may include rejection of
claims, allowance of claims, objections to the form of the claims, or
objections to the form of the specification.
The applicant or his representative must reply to the Official Action by
presenting technical arguments to rebut an Examiner's position, amend
the application to overcome the rejections or objections, or cancel any
claims that were objected to or rejected. This process may continue
until the application is allowed, or the Examiner issues a final
Official Action. An applicant may appeal an Examiner's decision to a
higher authority if the Examiner reiterates his position in a second
Official Action or issues a final Official Action. An applicant may also
be entitled to file a continuing application.
If the application is in proper form, has all the required elements, and
the Examiner's prior art search does not yield any references that would
prevent the application from issuing as a patent, the Examiner issues a
Notice of Allowance. The applicant is then given three months to pay the
issue fee.
Back |
