Inventhelp Tip: Invention Patent

Obtaining an invention patent requires serious due diligence before the patent application is even filed. Even if you think your novel idea or product is unique enough to warrant a patent, you may be surprised to learn that someone else thought of and applied for it first. If that's the case, you don't want to spend time and money to help patent that invention. Your search should include U.S. and foreign patents as well as any available published applications to date.

You can file a patent application prior to this search but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) advises you search first. The USPTO maintains comprehensive databases of millions of patents in its library system so they can ensure the rights of inventors. To search patents, you should locate the nearest Patent and Trademark Depository Library and talk to a search professional who can help you set up a search strategy. If you are new to patent searching, you may find a local librarian who can assist you in getting started as well. But, considering that patent searches are complicated and time consuming, you may also want to consider hiring a registered patent practitioner or attorney to handle the search for you. More information on patent searching can be obtained on websites like uspto.gov and InventHelp.com.

Inventhelp Tip: Defining a Patent

If you've come up with a new invention idea or novel product, you'll want to consider obtaining a patent. If you begin searching the subject of patenting online or at the library, you'll soon discover it seems overwhelming and advanced. While patent law can be highly technical, what a patent does is relatively easy to understand.

While you have patent protection for your invention, it excludes anyone else from receiving monetary gain from your idea unless you say they can through a license agreement. A patent is like owning a piece of property except that your novel product is the property. Patents are obtained through the US Patent and Trademark Office and ensure no one can make, use, offer for sale or import for sale the idea you have invented.

A patent is offered from the US government for a specific time period, and a patent application can only be submitted by the actual inventor or inventors. If you have been tinkering in your garage and discover or create a new product, you should immediately begin researching if it can be patented. If you don't, you may lose the ability to reap exclusive financial rewards of your hard work.

Inventhelp Tip: Research Inventor Services

If you are new to the field of inventions, patents or licencing your own new product, you may not have heard of the term inventor services. But, over the years companies have been launched to offer people just that--help with inventions. This help can span many areas such as:

• How to understand the complicated patenting process
  
• Information and leads about prototyping a new product
• Access to professionals who specialize in helping inventors via online or phone
  
• Ways to submit your invention to companies looking to market new products, patent attorney referral
  
• Information about trade shows where you can pitch your product to the right people
  
• Guides on how to search patents the correct way and more.
  

• Check with the Better Business Bureau to see if any complaints have been filed against an inventor services company.
  
• Never give out detailed information about your product idea unless there is a written agreement of confidentiality.
  
• Be especially careful of any companies who promise they can make you a millionaire through a prescribed fee-based program.
  
• Be wary of any inventor services company that tells you over the phone your idea can be patented.
  
• The best inventor services companies offer information on how to take the right steps, not promises about what will happen if you do.

Inventhelp Tip: Business Method Patent

During most of the last century, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rarely granted invention patents to businesses, claiming that a process could not be patented if it was simply an abstract idea, something the USPTO believed described most business methods. But the rise of e-commerce in particular, has turned this around.