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Invention Ideas and Proposals

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In discussing potential patentable idea elon musk states; "I got my first idea for a computer program while we were driving across Beverly Hills. It was a game that simulated bull riding, and I thought it would be really fun to patent. The game wasn't going very well..."

Unfortunately, there is one crucial Invent Help element missing from this comment which greatly impacts the likelihood of a successful patent. It's important to understand that the patent examiner is not a rubber stamp. In fact, he or she is typically a very intelligent and skilled person, who is often a great deal of help to the inventor in presenting their invention in a manner that will assist in obtaining a US patent.

The key requirement to obtain a US patent as an inventor is to present your invention in a way that will enable a patent examiner to consider it as an original idea. And this is where the problem arises. Typically, patent applicants fail to properly characterize their invention. This often results in the patent examiner examining the invention as being a generically designed product or procedure, which is legally unnecessary and therefore denies the patent application. Thus, presented in the correct way, many products and processes do not meet the requirements necessary to trigger the legal requirement for a patent.

Therefore, inventors must be careful when selecting which ideas to bring to the patent examiner. They should always provide a substantially detailed description of the invention, together with a statement of why the invention is new and not obvious in view of what others have done previously. However, this alone may not sufficiently describe the invention. Often, the inventors may come up with inventive ideas for obtaining patent protection, but they are not sufficiently novel to trigger the patent examiner's attention.

There is additional guidance regarding the importance of developing novel invention ideas, and how to select them for a US patent application. See US Patent Applications by Individuals, Article Number 2021/3138, entitled "Invention Ideas Needed for Patent Applications" (Invention Idea Gels Meant to Patent Application). Also available at the US Patents Office website are detailed guides on how to choose an invention and how to present it to the patent examiner. Further, many classes and seminars are offered to educate inventors on the patentability considerations.

Not surprisingly, given the difficulties encountered in obtaining patent protection for an idea, the cost of filing a patent can be quite high. Patents are not cheap and taking the time and expense to secure one is often an expensive endeavor. Furthermore, given that the United States Patent and Trademark Office does not offer blanket protection from prior art, it is important to understand what kind of prior art will likely be encountered. The more specific the description of the invention, the easier it is for the patent examiner to determine that the invention is legally patentable. This is why it is important to spend a significant amount of time preparing an invention in consultation with a patent attorney.

One other difficulty in securing protection for your invention is that, because most products and processes do not change very much over time, the novelty provided by the new invention often gets eaten up rather quickly by the competing products and processes. Therefore, it is often necessary to reinvent one's product or process with each application. This presents a number of novel issues regarding patentability. Some ideas may seem less protected than others but in actuality their novelty is often more defined by the processes and methods used to implement the invention than by the technology underlying the invention.

One way to obtain protection for an invention is to combine an invention with a process or idea that was patented under previous patents. For instance, an inventor may submit an application for a design improvement to a manufacturer, under patent law, for the purpose of combining the improvements made to the design with those already obtainable from the manufacturer. Thus, instead of risking the expense and risk of a legal challenge that might leave the patenting process unresolved, the inventors may often seek to restrict the scope of the protection provided by the prior art. Often this is accomplished by submitting improvements that incorporate part or all of the prior art, subject to a condition that states that if part of the prior art is changed the product or process will lose protection. Other ways to obtain protection for an invention include relying on claims that are technically vague and broad enough to be construed as a legal claim against the product or process, or by including language in the patent that limits protection to the scope of the claims only.


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Invention Ideas and Proposals

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Published on March 29, 2021

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