UTILITY PATENT APPLICATIONS

A utility patent application is a patent application that protects the functionality of an invention.  If you wish to protect the way your invention functions, i.e., what it does, then the scope of protection that the utility patent affords is appropriate.  This is compared to design patents and provisional patents which are different.  Once approved and issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, your utility patent registration will allow you "the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling" your invention in the United States.  This is done by filing a patent infringement lawsuit in the various districts of the United States Federal Courts.

Term

Once issued, your utility patent registration will last twenty (20) years from the filing date of the patent application.

Getting A Utility Patent Application

After your consultation with us, we may conduct a patent search first to determine if the invention has already been patented.  Thereafter, as your patent attorney, we will draft the application.  Drafting of the patent application is an extensive process as patents are very detailed.  The more information that the inventor can provide us the better the quality of the patent, as patent applications must have sufficient disclosure such that one of ordinary skill in the art would be able to make and use the invention by reading the patent application.  The patent must include the specification (which is the body of the invention), drawings, and claims.  Claims are the most important part of the patent application and must be written properly.  As experienced patent attorneys, we know the significance of patent claims and will draft strong claims that will stand up in court.  After the patent application is completed, we then file the application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  Immediately after we electronically file your patent application, we receive your patent serial number.  Your application is then officially "patent pending" and you may mark that on your products or on your marketing materials. 

USPTO Review Process

The patent application then eventually gets reviewed by the patent examiner for formalities and for substantive rejections.  If the examiner finds other patent applications that are the same or similar to the applicant's application, he may rejection the application by issuing an Office Action.  As your patent attorney we will overcome Office Actions so that your application will issue.

When your patent application is approved, you will receive a Notice of Allowance.  After you have received the Notice of Allowance and paid the government issuance fee, your patent application will mature to a patent registration.

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