Patent lawyers in Las Vegas
We offer one of the best patent lawyer services in Las Vegas,
NV. If you need any assistance filing for a patent or a trademark,
please go to the contact form and send us your query. Or call us at
(702) 347-1221 (www.iplaw.world).
A patent confers exclusive rights in the invention to the owner of
the patent. A patent’s life is typically 20 years from the date it was
filed. During this period, the patent-owner can stop others, i.e.
cheaters or infringers, from making, selling, or practicing the invention.
A patent, therefore, can be an effective offensive and defensive tool
for your business.
Initial Consultation with Patent Attorney
The patent process begins with your initial consultation with a patent attorney. This initial consultation is free.
CONFIDENTIALITY:
Our Registered patent attorneys are licensed to practice before
the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”). They are legally
bound to strict confidentiality regarding clients’ disclosures. We will not
share or use a client’s invention-related materials in any manner
without the client’s prior permission.
The patent attorney will need to understand the details of your
invention, its advantages and benefits, etc. Based on this initial
consultation, the patent attorney will advise you of your options. You
should then be able to make a decision on how exactly you wish to
proceed based on your budget and your level of interest.
Patentability Search
A patentability search is an optional step before filing a patent
application. Many inventors choose to get one because it helps reveal
what else is out there. The search results can help the inventor decide
whether to spend the time and money pursuing a patent. The search
results can also help the patent attorney in his efforts to achieve the
broadest patent protection for the invention.
The Patent Application
Preparing the patent application is arguably the most significant
step in the patenting process. This is where the patent attorney’s skills
are critical. This is perhaps the most significant part of a patent
attorney’s IP law practice anywhere in the world.
a) Specification - A patent application’s specification must meet
certain legal criteria, but its essential purpose is to describe the
invention in detail, identifying how to practice it, and citing its
advantages. The detailed description typically includes professional
drawings. The specification must meet certain legal standards, which
the patent attorney will ensure are met.
b) Claims - The claims define the intellectual property rights, or
IP law rights, granted by the patent to the patent owner. Drafting
claims is a complex art and experienced patent attorneys are skilled at
it. It is important that the claims be drafted to maximize the intellectual
property rights that the invention is lawfully entitled to.
The Patent Examination Process
The USPTO assigns patent applications to Examiners who
examine each patent application. An Examiner typically issues an
Office Action advising reasons, if any, why a patent application is not
eligible for allowance. The applicant can respond to the Office Action
through his patent attorney with amended claims and arguments to
overcome those reasons or ‘rejections.’
Eventually, the Examiner either allows the patent application to
issue as a patent or finally rejects it. The applicant can appeal the
rejection, although an appeal is an expensive and lengthy process.
Provisional vs Non-Provisional patent applications
When filing a new patent application, the applicant may file a provisional or a nonprovisional
patent application.
A) Provisional - A provisional patent application is a
comparatively cheaper option to achieve a filing date, or priority date,
for an invention while also gaining the right to use ‘Patent Pending’ for
the invention. Although a provisional patent application has lower
requirements, it must disclose the details of the invention and support
the claims for a future non-provisional patent application.
A provisional patent application needs drawings to support the
details of the invention, but the drawings can be informal. A provisional
application does not need claims, however. These informalities help
reduce the cost of filing the patent application, which can be helpful for
new entrepreneurs or businesses that want to test the commercial
viability of a new invention before spending money to protect it.
A provisional patent application is not examined by the USPTO,
and it has a life of only 1 year. The applicant must convert the
Provisional application to a Non-Provisional within that 1-year period,
or else it expires. If a Provisional application expires, the applicant
must file a whole new patent application and get a new filing date, the
priority date of the initial Provisional application is no longer valid.
It is important to note that a Provisional patent application will
never issue as a patent. It must be converted to a Non-Provisional
during its 1-year lifespan and examined by the USPTO in order for it to
issue as a patent.
B) Non-Provisional - A Non-Provisional patent application is a
complete patent application, with formal drawings and a proper set of
claims. It is formally examined by the USPTO.
If and when the claims of a Non-Provisional patent application are deemed patentable by the USPTO, the Non-Provisional patent application issues as a patent.
Design Patents versus Utility Patents
There are 2 types of patents issued by the USPTO, utility patents and design patents.
A) Utility Patents - Utility patents are the most common type of patent applications filed with the USPTO.
A utility patent covers the functional aspects of an invention.
They usually result in broader protection for the invention than a
design patent.
B) Design Patents - Design patents cover the ornamental
design of an invention. They do not protect any functional aspect of
the invention. As a result, design patents generally provide narrower
patent protection.
Design patents are not too common. They are much cheaper to
prepare and file as compared to a utility patent, and they are
examined or processed by the USPTO much faster than a utility
patent. However, inventors prefer filing a utility patent because of the
narrower patent protection of design patents. That is, unless, the
ornamental design of the invention is what the inventor seeks to
protect.
Patent Issuance and Maintenance
When a patent is granted, the USPTO requires an issuance fee.
Additionally, periodic maintenance fees must be paid during the life of
the patent. A patent attorney can assist with more details about your
particular patent.
Notice of the patent to the public
When your patent application is filed, provisional or nonprovisional, you can begin marking your product as patent-pending,
sometimes abbreviated as ‘Pat. Pend.’
After your patent issues, you must mark your invention with its
patent number to give notice to the public that it is protected by a
patent. This is done by marking the item ‘US Pat. No. xxxxxx.’
However, some items are too small to be marked with the patent
number, or cannot be marked for another reason. In such cases, you
may mark the item’s packaging. Note though that you must mark the
item with its patent number or else you lose the right to collect
damages against an infringer.
Foreign patent coverage
Inventors seeking patent protection overseas must apply for a
patent in each respective country. There is no such thing as an
international patent where an invention receives patent protection
globally.
Seeking patent protection in foreign countries can be an
expensive and time-consuming process. For that reason, the applicant
must carefully choose desirable countries. The patent application will
need to be prosecuted separately in each respective country, often
requiring assistance from local patent counsel in the respective
country
An alternative for US applicants seeking overseas patent
protection is the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). PCT applications
can be filed in the USPTO, which gives the applicant 30 months for
foreign filing in other countries. The applicant can designate a certain
country’s IP office to do the search, such as the USPTO, and then file
national patents in the foreign countries of his choice. Those foreign
countries must be members of the PCT, which has new countries
joining all the time.