Have you invented something that you want to protect? A business idea, a gadget, a design? If so, you may feel that patenting your idea is your best way of making sure others don't steal it. But what do you need to know about patenting an invention? How do you go about getting a provisional patent for your idea? Is it expensive to apply for a patent, and how long does it take? What are the pitfalls of designing something with no intention of applying for a patent? For answers to these questions plus many more detailed tips on how to patent an idea in the UK, read this article.
1. Patent an idea – do you need to apply for a patent?
A patent is a form of intellectual property protection granted by a state to the inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time, in exchange for public disclosure of the invention. If another inventor working independently produces the same invention, patent rights allow the originator to prevent the duplication of the invention. On January 16, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill (H.R. 1384) that would formalize the provisional patent process.
The bill would amend the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) regulations to provide for:
Granting Rights to Published Patents: On January 16, 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the revised Patents Act. This law amends the Patent Act of 1946, first amended in 1978, to create a new "right to immediately published patent applications and information." Right to immediately published means that after a reasonable period of time, the rights of any party to a patent application, information or rights-of-origin no longer extend to applications, information or rights-of-origin filed after that date.
Waiver on Non-Filing Fee or Fee Waiver: Under current regulations, the PTO may waive the filing fee or, if no fee is due, the lesser of $1,000 or the Presidential fee (which is currently $600 for small businesses and $1,200 for large businesses). The mayoralties are intended to encourage the submission of low-risk, non-fluctuating applications. The current regulations also require that a third party pay a non-filing fee if the application is filed by a small business (or is filed by a new organization attempting to register its first application). The new bill does not expand on the waiver or increase the filing fee.
[Note: A third-party payment isn't required for an application that is filed under the law's provisions that govern applications filed prior to January 16, 2008. Such applications are still private and confidential, and first-party payments are still required.]
Secret Lien Release: The amended bill would provide that a patent application, information or right-of-origin is not entitled to the protection of a patent, regardless of whether a valid patent right or reserved rights are recorded or enforceable.
2. How to patent an idea in the UK
It is possible to patent an idea in the UK. In fact, it’s a surprisingly straightforward process. The first step is to do a thorough search to ensure no one else has already patented your idea. You can do a search on the Intellectual Property Office website. The next step is to write a detailed description of your idea in a set format. You will then send your application to the IP office for publication in the Patent Office Notes section. Your application will be published and you will have a deposit. You will often receive a telephone call when your application is published, either to confirm acceptance or inform you of disciplinary action. If your application has been accepted, you will receive an email with contact details, including email addresses for any third parties to whom your application was referred. You should acquaint yourself with the notes' procedure if you are planning to submit an onward application to the Patent Office for a third party to review. You should also note the steps for requesting publication back to you, and details about the process for requesting reconsideration. Finally, don’t forget that the IP office is a kind of black box. Lucky for you, ultimately, a holder of a provisional patent has very little to do with the ultimate success or failure of your application. It is entirely at the discretion of the IP office whether the application will be published, whether it will be refused, or whether there will be fees.
Some preliminaries
I don’t want to crown this section incorrect before it’s even been written, so I will explain a few things quickly before getting into it more deeply.
IP TLD extensions
It is worth pointing out, in keeping with the spirit of this post, that there is a revision procedure in the process of applying for a patent, so doing a full search for other applications will not give you such a list again. However, it is worth including the following in your search. This is the verbiage that we got from one of our resubmission requests: “Please note that the IP assigned (By date.
3. Steps to patenting an idea in the UK
To patent an idea in the UK, there are four steps you’ll need to take: 1) Do your research. You can’t patent an idea that’s already been patented, so do some research to make sure your idea isn’t already protected under law. 2) Figure out what to patent. You can start at Step 2 and end up at Step 12, but you still need to show that your idea falls within one of the definitions of an invention. 3) Claim the patent! Once the patent is granted, you can use it to protect any further product/technology development. 4) Implement your patent. The UK does not provide a nationwide infrastructure for proving that your invention works. You’ll need to translate your patent into Text and hit that button, and do it, and because it’s worked before, you can keep doing it, and periodically (maybe once a year) revise it, and here’s where legal issues start to rear their ugly heads.
2. Who decides what others can and can’t patent? The UK has a Patent Index, which lists all patents granted anywhere in the world. Text creates, parses and aggregates this database. Patents are also grouped into a series of Classes, called Subject Matter Management Systems (SMS), according to the kinds of inventions they cover. Each patent in a particular Class has a Law Number assigned to it, and an Assignee (this could include those who actually patented the subject matter). If an application seems to arise from a clearly-defined and well-recognized body of law (the so-called Article 10 Framework), then Articles of Patent automatically take effect.
3. Can I add my own ideas or other people’s to my patent? You can, but your application will be rejected if it does. Patents are inventions, and as such it would be illegal to patent something which wasn’t invented by you. So any human input would invalidate your patent (though plenty of useful ideas have been patented without human input, mostly because companies have simply cross-referenced other patents).
4. How much does it cost to patent an idea?
Patents aren’t free, and they aren’t cheap. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, it costs $1,410 to file a provisional application and $3,310 to file a non-provisional application. You can expect to pay even more for an international application.
Qualified individuals can conduct research and invent new things. Historically, researchers have used a variety of methods, including modifying existing technology and infringing on someone else’s ideas. The first search engine, Google, uses a combination of “natural language processing” (NLP) and “rich snippets” to provide personalized results, which may include types of results listed below.
Provisional patent applications may include:
Implications testing
Speech recognition systems
Computer programs designed to automatically identify patterns of text and audio
Aural search assistant systems (ASAS)
Computer programs that analyze web documents, appends textual information to portions of the Web document for display as rich internet applications (RIAAs)
Forums and websites
Sites which may be used to provide results in connection with any of the above methods, such as news, blogs, and social media websites (such as Google News)
While the patent featured above has been granted, it may be the subject of litigation. I do not recommend pursuing queries that begin with or incorporate any of the examples above.
In real estate, there is also a risk that a piece of real estate will be "sued" — that is, someone will try to take legal action against you for incorporating a given concept correctly. This is actually fairly rare, though there is one famous case, Davis v. The Buyers Club (1922), discussed below. When somebody brings suit against you, the easiest thing to do is to respond with a counter-suit (known as a "cross-claims" motion). If a judge rules in your favor, it will reduce the harm done to the other side.
5. What do you need to know about patents?
If you’re going to start a business, you’re going to need a patent. A patent is a 20-year government-granted monopoly. It allows you to stop others from selling a certain product or using a certain technology. This is a powerful tool for a business owner. You can protect a lot of ideas, but the government only gives you a monopoly on prescription medicines.
To start a company, IIT students usually take two years of IIT Roorkee and two years of Wasdin's Entrepreneurship Course in Kota. (2) Many people doing start-ups go straight to Kota and either come out like a runaway train or they make it as a Wasdin's Entrepreneurship course intern.
What License to Start a Company?
There is a Memorandum of Understanding between the government and the IIT University in Kota (okay, so it’s more like an MBA). Ben Lim justified the MoU for Internet services here, but the internet service industries were not part of the original patent for a search engine back in the 90s. If you’re thinking, “OK, that’s not what it was about,” first you need to convince yourself.
The US Government Funded Institutes for Technology (GIFT) shifted $23.5M to institute my invention (Sitemaps, or a search engine) in exchange for my services. IIT Kota offered 50,000 USD to institute “an enterprise wide R&D program focused on enhancing the processing and indexing of web-based information, as well assume of industries research and development in Internet and Information Technology and Computer Science.” (3) What’s even better is that “...attending IIT Kota was already a prerequisite to enrolling in the program.” (4) Granted, it’s still a great deal. 20,000 USD.
So, what business would you be start-up-ink if you didn’t have a bunch of money? If you can outsource the hosting and running part, start-up businesses have always been a good idea. For example, if the business you want to start has limited resources and time, design, code. Or, if you’re looking to grow your sales, check out the sales pipeline of a SaaS product.
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