Introduction
The best that will ever befall an innovator in innovation and intellectual property is that you get to have a patent. To be granted a patent is to be put in a position where you can safeguard your invention. By so doing, you will be preventing other people from selling, making, or using your invention for a very long period, even for 20 years, because you have made a request. Some of the most common questions in getting a patent are:
1. How long will it take to submit a patent application?
Granting of the patent, if potentially staggered over a time duration that is compound in nature and long term to an extraordinary degree, becomes the potential victim of the vagaries of a ginormous collection of variables that can span from type of patent to jurisdiction, quality of invention to quality of filing. The following article will describe the step-by-step process of filing an application for a patent, enumerate all the steps with the time period, and briefly explain some of the complexities involved in the whole process.
2. What Is a Patent and Why Is It Important?
A patent offers intellectual property from the government to the inventor or discoverer of a new and useful discovery or invention. A patent gives him or her sole right to use his or her invention in such a manner that he or she can use his or her invention without any rival for some time frame. Patents are important as they hold your ideas so that someone else cannot replicate or exploit your work.
Three fundamental types of patents are:
– Utility Patents: Provide protection to new and useful discovery or invention, i.e., process, machine, or composition of matter.
– Design Patents: Provide protection to the new appearance or new shape of the new design of an article of manufacture.
– Plant Patents: Provide protection to asexually reproduce newly discovered plant varieties.
3. The Most Important Steps of the Patent Application Process
Patent application procedure is one procedure that in all instances has the following most essential steps:
- Pre-Application Stage: You first have to ensure your invention is indeed new enough to make you eligible for a patent. That is, you search, disclose it, and file it.
- The Filing of the Patent Application for Patents: You’ve draughted your patent application, and then you submit it to the appropriate USPTO. In America, say, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) would be where, but patent offices are present in every country.
- Examination Stage: Your patent application with them today will be examined by a patent examiner who will determine whether your invention is meeting all the criteria of the patent law, such as novelty, non-obviousness, and utility, or not.
- Grant of Patent: You will be granted your patent and exclusive right to your invention for the time necessary by law if your application is eligible for examination without any hindrance.
- Renewal and Post-Grant Fees: Once your patent is granted, you will be required to keep your patent in force by paying renewal fees at intervals throughout the term of the patent.
4. Determinants of the Length of Patent Process
The length of the patent application process can be any duration depending on an unimaginable set of determinants. The primary determinants of the length of the patent process are
– Patent Office Backlog: All patent office backlogs are only ridiculously too long because the applications simply were just too absurd. It may perhaps be a sign of an abusive-duration examination process. With America, there are some types of patent applications that would take years to process by the USPTO.
– Patent Type: If the following kind of patent is included or not. Utility patents, for inventions, take more to read than design patents, which are lesser and not much to read.
– Invention Sophistication: The more advanced and innovative the invention, the sooner it will be ahead of the patent office to discover it. That could be in ascertaining if the invention is new with respect to the already issued patents, and that is not immediately through prior art search.
– Jurisdiction and Geographic Location: Each of the patent offices is different country by country, step by step, time period, and backlog in the sense. USPTO would be different from EPO, for example. And there would also be time to examine the difference for international patents depending upon the countries involved.
– Work: Patent Examiner’s workload: The amount of work the examiner had on his/her desk and for how long a period of time he/she has been sitting working on your case was also considered. The examiners will usually have more than one patent that they are working on simultaneously, and the type of your application may have them working more or less to finish”.
– Applicant Responsiveness: Applicant responsiveness to office action also creates time elapsed. In the event the applicant is not responsive to office actions or responding in terms of radical changes, time wastage is at its maximum.
5. Estimated Timeframe of the Patent Application Process
Time spent in securing a patent is not consistent but is characterised by round-about time periods for each intention. Give an estimate of time for each step of a patent application.
- Pre-Application Stage (Patent Search and Documentation): Searching patents would have to be performed before filing the patent application, trying to ascertain whether prior inventions previously existed. Would require a couple of weeks or several weeks based on the breadth of scope of the area of technology and the breadth of coverage.
- Patent application filing examination group: Patent application filing after filling out all the forms would be a matter of two weeks to a few days. As and when needed, forms will be filled out; drawings or schematics wherever needed will be submitted and forwarded to the concerned patent office. Foreign filings involve extra forms.
Stage of examination: Slowest, may take up to 18 months or more. For example:
– In the US, normally 2 to 3 years prior to when the USPTO grants a utility patent application.
– In Europe, normally 3 to 5 years prior to when the European Patent Office (EPO) grants.
– In other nations, normally a few years more based on patent office backlog.
Patent Issued: Your application, subject to no objection from the patent office on examination, is issued. This will occur three months later when the process of examination is complete.
Post-Grant and Maintenance: The patented invention will be enforceable for 20 years if it is a utility patent (or 15 years if it is a design patent in the US) but will need to continue remaining enforceable by continuing to pay periodic maintenance fees if it is to continue being enforceable.
6. How to Speed Up the Patent Application Process: Some Tips
Although during the entire long patenting process, applicants may be timely through the following:
– Clean Patent Search: Proper patent search before filing will be time-saving. If even if at all is to be so, already patents are there, then you would have to restrict your invention or claims to an extent that would make it novel.
– Formulate a Provisional Patent Application: Preparing a provisional patent application grants you an in-between filing date to ensure you definitely have ample time to complete completing the application. It’s a quicker process, too.
– Enlist a Patent Lawyer: The patent lawyer will fill out a viable application on your behalf, avert denial of the application, back-and-forth with the patent agency, and hasten the procedure.
– Accelerated Examination: Payment of fees voluntarily in the majority of jurisdictions. For example, USPTO has an accelerated examination program known as the Track One program, which is one such accelerated examination.
– Act promptly on office actions: If it is an office action (amendment notice or request for explanation), act promptly. Silly smoothness will lead to a ginormous delay in the process.
Conclusion
Patenting is not easy and at times frustrating. Two months or two years, to have the why, the process, and the likely delay within your own hands will be to your own benefit to enable you to better manage expectations and to have your process running smoothly. Preparation, listening to what the experts tell you, and using software at your disposal will be in your best interest while going through this long process.
FAQ (Frequently asked question)
Q1. How long does it take to get a U.S. patent?
Ans) It will take 2 to 3 years to receive a utility patent in the U.S. Time, however, is relative depending on the character of the patent, examiners’ workload, and the character of the invention.
Q2. How to obtain a patent quickly?
Ans) You can speed it up by filing for a provisional patent and using quicker examination programs such as the USPTO’s Track One.
Q3. Can the patenting process be expedited?
Ans) Yes, by filing a request for a provisional patent, quick response to office actions, and use of quicker examination programs.
Q4. Why does the patenting process take so long?
Ans) Patenting is time-consuming and long, involving much testing, questioning, and enquiring in order to come up with inventions in the sake of fulfilling lawful requirements such as novelty and non-obviousness.
Q5. Is a patent rejected?
Ans) For every case when the patent fails to fulfil demands by law that are condition requirements such as novelty, non-obviousness, or utility, then it will be rejected.
The inventors will be successful in getting a patent if they have these lines ahead of them and are on the right paths.