Irvine Patent Attorneys

Experienced Patent Attorneys in Irvine, California, Help Inventors Protect and Market Their Work

Thomas Edison once said that genius was “one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” Over a century later, millions of inventors have discovered the truth of his words firsthand. Inventions take hard work to create – work that imbues the creation with significant value. Patent law provides a way for inventors to protect that hard work. 

If you have an invention needing protection, speak to an experienced Irvine patent attorney today. A lawyer can help you navigate the patent process and secure the protection your work needs. 

What is a Patent?

A patent is a type of intellectual property right. The patent holder receives certain protections for the invention covered by the patent. This protection also comes with certain rights for the patent holder, such as preventing others from making, using, selling, or importing the patented invention without the patent holder’s permission. If others violate these rights, the patent holder may hold those parties accountable for infringement. 

Patent protections are limited to the country or territory granting the patent. For example, a patent granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is valid only within the boundaries of the United States. 

Currently, there is no single patent that offers worldwide protection for an invention. Some countries, however, will recognize a patent from another nation as evidence that the invention belongs to the inventor and deserves patent protection. 

Patents are also limited by time. After a certain period, a patent’s protections expire, allowing others to make, use, sell, or import the patented invention. The amount of time a patent lasts depends on the type of patent. 

In exchange for patent protection, the inventor discloses how the invention is made and how it works. This information becomes part of the public record, accessible through the USPTO’s patent database. Other parties may not use it to make direct copies of the invention while the patent is in effect, but they may use it to understand the advancements made in the patent and further their own work in the field. 

Because patents exchange information access for legal protections, they benefit both inventors and the public. Inventors can use patent protections to gain entry to a market, exclude competitors, sell their products, and build business partnerships. Both the public and inventors gain access to information about a field of invention or study, allowing for further innovation. 

Basic Requirements for Patents

“Patentability” rests on five basic requirements: Patentable subject matter, utility, novelty, nonobviousness, and enablement. 

Patentable Subject Matter

What kinds of items can be patented? The “patentable subject matter” requirement limits the field to “any process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or improvement thereof.” 

To be patentable, an item must be made by a human. Laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas cannot be patented. For example, the fact that a dropped ball falls to the ground due to gravity cannot receive patent protection, but a machine that uses gravity’s effect on a falling ball to generate energy could be the subject of a patent. 

Utility

The “utility” requirement states that an invention must be useful to receive patent protection. The USPTO requires that utility claims meet three criteria: The utility is credible, specific, and substantial.

“Credible” utility means that logic and facts support the patent application’s utility claims. Other experts in the field could look at the item and agree that it does what the application says it will do. 

“Specific” utility must connect the item’s usefulness to its claimed subject matter. Making broad declarations of usefulness that could apply to any number of items is insufficient. 

“Substantial” utility requires the application to disclose a defined real-world use for the invention. Merely stating that the invention might have a future use if someone researches enough to find it won’t meet the substantial utility requirement. 

Novelty

“Novelty” requires that the invention be “new” in the sense that it wasn’t known or used by others in the US previously, nor is it the subject of an already filed patent or patent application. The USPTO also looks for printed discussions of the invention, such as those published in scientific or trade journals. 

Closely connected to the novelty requirement is the statutory bar to patentability, which finds that an invention is not novel if the patented item was in sale or use in the US or appears in a printed publication more than one year before a patent application is filed. Inventors must seek patent protection promptly or risk losing the opportunity to patent their invention. 

Nonobviousness

Would the invention and the prior art supporting it have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the field when the invention was made? If so, an invention’s patent application will likely fail for reasons of nonobviousness.

“Nonobviousness” requires an invention to have some element that took work or ingenuity to develop. In KSR International Co. v. Teleflex (2007), the Supreme Court held that “a court must ask whether the improvement is more than the predictable use of prior art elements according to their established functions.” 

Enablement

The “enablement” requirement states that the patent application must include enough detail to allow someone else “skilled in the art” to make the invention and use it. This description, in a patent application, is followed by one or more claims pointing out the specific features that the applicant claims quality for patent protection.

The enablement requirement and claims are often highly technical, requiring knowledge of both the invention and the demands of patent law. An experienced attorney can help you meet this requirement. 

Types of Patents

The field of potential inventions is vast. To help organize applications, the USPTO recognizes three distinct types of patents: utility, design, and plant patents.

Utility patents protect how an invention works. Utility patents may be granted for both items and processes. Improvements to existing items and processes may also be covered by a utility patent if they meet the USPTO’s five basic requirements listed above. 

Many ordinary home or office items contain parts covered by multiple utility patents. For example, in a mobile phone, the battery, antenna, semiconductor circuits, data-processing software, and alloys used in manufacturing may all be the subject of a separate utility patent. The phone may also fall under one or more design patents for ornamental features like a distinctively shaped keypad. 

Typically, utility patent protection begins the day the regular patent application is filed. It expires 20 years after the filing date.

Design patents protect ornamental or non-functional designs. A design patent may apply to the shape of an invention as a whole or to surface ornamentation. Design patents protect the design as applied to a specific item of manufacture; copyright law, by contrast, protects any expressive work fixed in a tangible medium of expression. For example, a design patent might protect the unique shape of a soda bottle as applied to making those bottles, while a copyright may protect a painting of the soda bottle.

Design patent protection lasts for 14 years from the date the design patent is granted. 

Plant patents protect new varieties of asexually reproduced plants. Plant patents most often apply to the results of genetic engineering, cloning, and similar approaches to plant development and evolution. 

Like utility patents, plant patents are valid for 20 years beginning on the date the application is filed. 

Other Forms of Intellectual Property Protection

Not all intellectual property can be protected by a patent. Copyright and trademark laws protect other forms of intellectual property, including items that may appear to overlap with patentable inventions. 

Copyright protects creative or expressive works “fixed in a tangible medium of expression.” Distinguishing between the unique design elements covered by a design patent and creative or expressive works covered by copyright can prove challenging. An experienced intellectual property lawyer can make the necessary distinctions and ensure registrations are filed accurately.

Trademark protects items used to communicate the source of a good or service to consumers. Often, these include distinctive design elements – things that might also fall under a design patent. Like copyrights, trademarks can overlap with design or other patents, calling for the discerning eye of an experienced intellectual property attorney. 

To Learn More, Speak to an Experienced Irvine Patent Attorney Today

Turning an idea into reality via invention takes work 一 and so does protecting what you have invented. Now that you have succeeded in realizing your ideas, it’s time to secure patent protection for your work.

Cohen IP is committed to helping our clients get patent protection. Our patent services include:

• Patent Applications
• Patent Searches
• International Patents
• Track One Patent Examination
• Patent Office Actions
• Design Patents

To secure a patent, you need to understand both your invention and the nuances of patent law. You know your invention; the team at Cohen IP knows patent law. 

Contact us today for an initial consultation with one of our experienced Irvine patent law attorneys. We’ll help you understand the types of patent applications available, which application offers the best fit for your work, and how to build a strong case for patent protection. To learn more, reach out to Cohen IP today.