- 1). Determine whether you should seek a utility patent, a plant patent or a design patent. A utility patent protects a "process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter," according to the USPTO. A plant patent protects a "distinct, invented or discovered asexually reproduced plant including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found seedlings, other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state." A design patent protects an "ornamental design for an article of manufacture."
- 2). Determine whether your invention meets the "novelty" requirement for patentability. If the technology you seek to patent is already in existence, whether patented or not, it cannot be patented. The best way to perform a prior art search is to use the World Intellectual Property Organization's PatentScope search engine (see Resources).
- 3). Determine whether your invention meets the "utility" requirement for patentability. To patent your invention, it must have some practical use--a scientific theory, for example, cannot be patented. If an engineer would consider it useful and if it can actually be manufactured, it probably meets the utility requirement.
- 4). Determine whether your invention meets the "non-obviousness" requirement for patentability. An invention is non-obvious if its innovation beyond current technology would not be obvious to the average technician working in the field to which your invention belongs. This standard is highly subjective and requires the assistance of an experienced patent attorney.
- 5). Prepare a complete technical description of your invention including specifications, graphs, text and any other materials necessary to allow a third party to manufacture it, because this is the level of detail required by the USPTO.
- 6). Prepare patent claims. This step should be performed by an experienced patent attorney. Patent claims are statements that describe exactly what about your invention is unique and entitled to patent protection. If you draft these claims too narrowly, your patent cannot protect your invention against similar inventions. If you draft your claims too broadly, they will probably be rejected by the USPTO.
- 7). Submit a patent application to the USPTO using the materials you have prepared in the previous steps. Some of the necessary information can be submitted online. You will have to pay a filing fee of several hundred dollars, the exact amount of which will be determined from the details of your application.
- 8). Respond to periodic questions and requests from the USPTO. It is normal for the USPTO to make several requests for you to amend your patent claims. Feel free to enter into reasoned debate with the USPTO over the appropriateness of its suggested revisions, and the USPTO may compromise with you.
- 9). Wait for the USPTO to publish details of your invention in its gazette, and for it to approve your application. If the USPTO approves your application, patent protection will be granted retroactive to the date that it accepted your initial application. Until then, the status of your invention will be "patent pending."
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