Patent It Yourself

628 Pages·2011·16.04 MB·English

“The best roll-up-your-sleeve guide for filers who
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Patent
It

Yourself
• Conduct a patent search
• File your patent application
• Profit from your invention
Your Step-by-Step Guide to Filing
at the U.S. Patent Office
Patent Attorney David Pressman
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LOS ANGELES TIMES
15th edition
Patent It
Yourself
Your Step-by-Step Guide to
Filing at the U.S. Patent Office
Patent Attorney David Pressman
LAW for ALL
FIFTEENTH EDITION APRIL 2011
Editor RICHARD STIM
Cover Design SUSAN PUTNEY
Book Design TERRI HEARSH
Proofreading ROBERT WELLS
Index JULIE SHAWVAN
Printing DELTA PRINTING SOLUTIONS, INC.
ISSN: 1554-9925
ISBN-13: 978-1-4133-1382-6
ISBN-10: 1-4133-1382-5
Copyright © 1985, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2011
by David Pressman.
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Acknowledgments
My deep thanks go to my clients, and other inventors whose creativity and genius
I so greatly admire and envy. My readers have given me much valuable feedback and
suggestions, and I am grateful to them as well.
I also thank the staff at Nolo, including Richard Stim, Steve Elias, Patti Gima,
Stephanie Harolde, and Ralph Warner for their ideas, contributions, and support, and,
especially, Terri Hearsh for substantially improving the look and feel of the book.
Finally, I thank my wife Roberta for her unflagging support and contributions.

Table of Contents
Your Legal Companion
A. You Don’t Have to Use a Patent Attorney ...........................................................................2
B. A Layperson Can Do a Quality Job ...........................................................................................2
C. Using an Attorney .............................................................................................................................2
D. Should You Do It Yourself? ...........................................................................................................3
E. New Material in the Fifteenth Edition ....................................................................................5
F. How to Use Patent It Yourself .......................................................................................5
1 Introduction to Patents and Other Intellectual Property
A. What Is a Patent and Who Can Apply for It? ......................................................................9
B. The Three Types of Patents ...........................................................................................................9
C. The Novelty and Unobviousness Requirement ...............................................................10
D. How Long Do Patent Rights Last? ...........................................................................................13
E. Patent Filing Deadlines ..................................................................................................................13
F. Patent Fees ..........................................................................................................................................13
G. The Scope of the Patent ...............................................................................................................14
H. How Patent Rights Can Be Lost ................................................................................................14
I. What Rights a Patent Grants and the Prior-Art Reference
Value of a Patent ..............................................................................................................................14
J. What Can’t Be Patented ...............................................................................................................15
K. Some Common Patent Misconceptions .............................................................................16
L. How Intellectual Property Law Provides “Offensive Rights”
(and Not Protection) to Inventors ..........................................................................................16
M. Alternative and Supplementary Offensive Rights ..........................................................17
N. Intellectual Property—The Big Picture .................................................................................17
O. Trademarks ..........................................................................................................................................18
P. Copyright..............................................................................................................................................21
Q. Trade Secrets ......................................................................................................................................25
R. Unfair Competition ........................................................................................................................28
S. Acquisition of Offensive Rights in Intellectual Property—Summary Chart ....29
T. Summary of Legal Remedies for Misappropriation of Various
Types of Intellectual Property ...................................................................................................29
U. Invention Exploitation Flowchart ...........................................................................................31
V. Summary ..............................................................................................................................................31
2 The Science and Magic of Inventing
A. What I Mean by “Invention” .....................................................................................................34
B. Inventing by Problem Recognition and Solution ............................................................35
C. Inventing by Magic (Accident and Flash of Genius) ......................................................37
D. Making Ramifications and Improvements of Your Invention ..................................38
E. Solving Creativity Problems ........................................................................................................39
F. Contact Other Inventors .............................................................................................................41
G. Beware of the Novice Inventor’s “PGL Syndrome” .........................................................41
H. Don’t Bury Your Invention ..........................................................................................................42
I. Summary ..............................................................................................................................................42
3 Documentation and the PPA
A. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................45
B. Documentation Is Vital to the Invention Process ..........................................................45
C. Documentation Is Vital to Prove Inventorship ...............................................................46
D. Trade Secret Considerations ......................................................................................................47
E. Record Conception and the Building and Testing of Your Invention .................48
F. How to Record Your Invention .................................................................................................49
G. Another Way to Record Conception or Building and Testing—
The Invention Disclosure ............................................................................................................54
H. The Provisional Patent Application—
A Substitute for Building and Testing, With Some Disadvantages ......................56
I. Don’t Sit on Your Invention After Documenting It ......................................................77
J. Don’t Use a “Post Office Patent” to Document Your Invention ...........................77
K. Summary .............................................................................................................................................77
4 Will Your Invention Sell?
A. Why Evaluate Your Invention for Salability? .....................................................................80
B. Start Small but Ultimately Do It Completely ....................................................................81
C. You Can’t Be 100% Sure of Any Invention’s Commercial Prospects .....................81
D. Take Time to Do a Commercial Feasibility Evaluation ................................................81
E. Check Your Marketability Conclusions Using the Techniques of
Consultation and Research .........................................................................................................87
F. Now’s the Time to Build and Test It (If Possible).............................................................89
G. The Next Step ...................................................................................................................................90
H. Summary ..............................................................................................................................................91