A patent provides statutory protection to original inventors and corporations who invent new products and provides them incentive to invest in Research & Development activities by restricting their competitors from plagiarizing their products. The owner of a patent gets an exclusive statutory right of use over their inventions thus enabling them to extract profits from their inventions.

U.S. law provides that an application for a patent must be made within one year of the first offer for sale, public use or publication of the invention.

‘Patent pending’ means that an application for obtaining a patent is in process. A manufacturer of a product may advertise ‘patent pending’ on his product to inform the public that the manufacturer has applied for a patent for the product with the USPTO. However, there is also a statutory fine for those who falsely advertise ‘patent pending’ on their products in order to mislead the public.

Many well-known companies invest billions of dollars in Research and Development activities (R&D). If these companies were not allowed patents, then their competitors would copy their new products and sell them at much cheaper rates. A patent prevents this plagiarizing by competitors and makes R&D investments worthwhile by allowing the inventor company the exclusive monopoly over use of their inventions. Thus, patents provide incentive to the original inventors and corporations for undertaking costs of R&D activities and help further scientific and technological development in the economy.

Attorneys and licensed patent agents have to strictly abide by the prescribed code of conduct making confidentiality of client information mandatory. Therefore, by hiring the services of Attorneys or licensed patent agent, you can ensure that your invention remains secret while pending.

The advantage of doing a patent search is that you may find that your invention or something very close to it has been filed already, saving you thousands in patent and attorney fees. The disadvantage is that it is generally incomplete, as there is no visibility into unpublished patent applications, which in the US pertains to most patent applications less than 18 months old.

It is generally recommended that one do a search if one is not familiar with the general subject matter. For instance, if the inventor has been involved with research and development in his field for many years, it is likely that he knows whether or not his approach is a novel one. But if one came up with an idea in a flash and has little or no visibility into the broader subject matter, it is a good idea to do a search as discussed on https://inspirationfeed.com/inventhelp/.

Filing provisional patents will set you up early in the patent process, but will also delay the USPTO from even queueing up your application for examination until a utility patent is filed. At the end of the 12 months you must make a decision as to whether you want US or you want to seek multi-national rights to attach to your application.

Filing a utility patent immediately gets you into the queue for examination, is a bit more expensive and requires more work on the part of the attorney or and patenting agency, such as InventHelp. However, it then gives you the same 12 months you would have had to decide whether you want just US or multi-national rights.

Filing a PCT application gives you about 30 months from the earliest filing date of the application to decide what countries you want to file in (30 months if a PCT is filed first, 18 months if it is filed after filing a utility or provisional patent). If you only wish to file in a few countries and you know that, you might be better off filing in those countries directly. For instance, the cost of patent office fees for filing the PCT application alone is about $3000-$5000.

A patent gives the inventor the exclusive right to the invention which may be a process or product that offers a technical solution to a problem or a process that describes a new way of doing something. That is a patent gives the inventor the exclusive right to enjoy the full commercial benefit of the invention.

Upon the granting of a complete patent the inventor is required to pay an annual patent renewal fee, failing to do so will result in the lapse of the patent.

Why use patent attorneys?

In accordance with the US Patents Act individuals may file provisional patent applications on their own behalf, however due to the complexity of the application process it is advisable that the patentee should make use of patent attorneys and patenting agencies, like InventHelp.

For example if a provisional patent application is filed and the nature of the invention becomes public; the scope, breath, and strength of patent protection will be determined by the content and wording of the specifications and the detail provided in the description and definition of the invention.

Although the Patent Office takes precautions to prevent any leaks it does not take responsibility for the intentional or unintentional leak of sensitive information outside of its offices.

Patent attorney are well versed in the international excepted format and requirements for patent applications and are therefore well suited to drafting provisional specifications this in its entirety promotes better protection locally and internationally.

A patent will stay in force for 20 years provided that the patentee pays the annual as described on https://www.econotimes.com/How-You-Can-Benefit-from-Turning-to-the-InventHelp-Experts-1577312.

Before one can understand what a public patent search facility does, one would have to know what a patent is. A patent is a term referring to any legal document that prevents other individual’s from copying an invention or a creation that has already been made by one person. This legal document is often issued by the federal government.

The patent prohibits members of the public from making the same creation, using it or selling it to other parties without express permission from the holder of the patent document. Patents are like property. The document can be transferred to another party by either selling it or licensing it to another individual.

There are three main types of patents. These include the utility patents, design patents and plant patents. Utility patents are issued to people who invent something. Design patents are issued to people who have come up with a unique structural design of an item. Plant patents are granted to people who have discovered a new type of flora as written in details on https://www.macobserver.com/why-turn-to-inventhelp-with-your-tech-invention-idea/.

A public patent search facility is in the business of promoting the progression of science as well as the arts by ensuring the inventors of these creations have an exclusive right to all their inventions.

Therefore, a public patent search facility is put in place so that it may grant patents that will protect the inventions of an individual so that nobody else can steal the idea. Public patent search facilities have other duties too. These duties include the registering of trademarks.

They are also expected to advise the commerce department of the state in issues pertaining to patents as well as trademarks. A public patent search facility will also examine the numerous patent applications sent in to them. After this initial examination, it will then decide on which applicants are deserving of the patent.

Public patent search facilities contain a lot of information about patents and trademarks. This is because they store all the data available pertaining to patents both in the United States of America as well as international patents. A public patent search facility will have a room that is open for public use where all this information is stored and the public can search for it at their own convenience as described in https://azbigmedia.com/business/why-new-inventors-turn-to-inventhelp-for-support/ post.

In addition to this, a public patent search facility will also supply copies of the various patents to the public. This applies to the information on trademarks that it also has.

Intellectual Property Attorneys are here to help if you’ve developed an invention or made a discovery which you believe holds great value to you in the marketplace. As you know, an idea or invention can be claimed by another party who would seek to make a profit out of something which is rightfully yours.

This is why you need Intellectual Property Attorneys to be proactive in protecting your valuable ideas so that you don’t fall prey to intellectual-property pirates. The entire purpose of Intellectual Property Law is to protect the intellectual assets of the rightful owners.

Hundreds of inventors and innovators have fallen prey to the heartbreaking experience of watching their ideas used by other people. Fortunately for you, this is something which can be easily prevented by proactively seeking the assistance of the best Intellectual Property Attorneys or patenting agency, like InventHelp.

Of course, there are dozens of “do-it-yourself” guides which you can use in place of hiring Intellectual Property Attorneys. You might be able to save yourself some money in the beginning but, the people who use these “do-it-yourself” resources usually aren’t aware of just how complex patent laws can actually be.

All it takes is overlooking a few minor details, and your ideas can still be stolen by people who would use your ideas to profit at your expense. Why take this kind of a chance when you can hire the best Intellectual Property Attorneys to create airtight protection for your innovations?

Obviously this means that hiring expert Intellectual Property Attorneys or patenting agencies is the only course of action for those who are serious about both protecting and profiting from their ideas. You can find much more information on patents and patenting on https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/gotconcept/the-next-big-thing-in-invention/.

E-Commerce is one of the driving forces of Internet Marketing, and for some, they focus on a single product at a time. For others, they have whole storefronts through which they sell multiple products.

Millions of products in an equal number of niches is what’s waiting for you, and that’s cause for excitement. You have to start somewhere, it’s where we all started, and learn the following ecommerce tips and remember them.

Making the most positive impact on visitors is critical to success. You probably already know that it’s important to present your business so people feel good about doing business with you. People tend to respond better to pictures of other people, and that is something you can use to your advantage. One thing about web users is they’re heavily conditioned for seeing images, and that’s why videos are so powerful. People want proof that what you are selling works because showing the product or service in context helps quite a lot with that.

Physical ecommerce has many other concerns to deal with unless you’re using a drop shipper. You know what it’s like with holiday shopping and people can get impatient, and they’re wondering if their order will arrive in time or whatever. Make sure your distributors and suppliers have enough stock and just get an idea if they’re prepared. This is also when you need to respond to order problems very fast so people do not become angry, etc. The worst thing for customers is being kept in the dark like a mushroom, so avoid letting that happen.

There’s a lot that can be done to optimize your shopping cart such as making the buttons a color that stands out. The reason for this is obvious, you want them to stand out to encourage people to click on them. Choose good colors that are not the same as what you have on the rest of your site. What you want to avoid is making your shopping cart links hard to notice. Think about all the ways you can push people along toward making a buying decision.

There’s really not a tremendous amount to learn with ecommerce, but it can look that way if you’re new. It is hard to know where you should start and what you should focus on. There are sites where you can find tutorials and guides, and you should always be up to date with ecommerce News. These sites can point you in the right direction but that is about it. You’ll need to make sacrifices such as watching favorite TV shows, etc, but it’s well worth it.

A patent validity opinion is undertaken to determine whether a particular patent or group of patents may be asserted against someone introducing a related new machine, product, process or composition of matter. If for any reason (as discussed below) a patent is not valid, it cannot be infringed. Thus, a patent validity opinion may well be part of an overall patent infringement opinion. (Such a patent validity opinion may lead to a broader search for other patents or publications that may be used to invalidate the patent.)

Therefore, the first step is to determine if the term of the patent has run, or whether the patent still appears to be enforced. This will begin with a determination of when the patent issued (for patents prior to June 8, 1995, their life is 17 years from the date of issue) or when the patent application from which the patent resulted was filed (since June 8, 1995, the life of the patent has been 20 years from the date of filing). You can read more from https://www.hngn.com/articles/227862/20200113/what-can-the-experts-at-inventhelp-do-for-you.htm on this subject.

Thus, if the term of a patent has run, it is no longer valid and cannot be infringed. Further, since December 12, 1980 , United States patents have required maintenance fees to keep them in force. If the maintenance fees have not been timely pay, the patent will have expired and cannot be infringed (subject to the possible reinstatement of the patent to valid status, after which he will again become capable of being infringed – although it cannot be infringed during the period of invalidity).

Thus, if the maintenance fees have not been paid and the patent has expired, the opinion will reflect that the patent is not currently in force and cannot be infringed. If, during the patent application process, a reference (either a U.S. patent or published patent application, a foreign patent or foreign published application, or any other material available to the general public) was not considered, the subject patent may not be valid.

If it can be shown that the subject patent was disclosed in any other reference more than a year prior to the filing date of the subject patent, and that such was never considered during the examination process (or possibly may have been misinterpreted during the examination process), the subject patent may be a candidate for re-examination as you can see from https://millennialmagazine.com/2020/01/13/dont-give-up-on-your-invention-idea-turn-to-inventhelp/ article. During such re-examination, the patent may be upheld or may be rendered invalid. If the latter is the case, it cannot be infringed.

When you become familiar with the laws surrounding patents and trade secrets, the question soon arises, “Which is better – patent protection or trade secret protection?” The answer depends not just on what you’re trying to safeguard, but can also hinge on its economic value and longevity, your financial objectives and the marketplace you’re in. Here’s how to take these issues into account as you evaluate your situation.

Differences Between Patents and Trade Secrets

The first issue to consider is whether the intellectual property (”IP”) you want to protect qualifies for either patent or trade secret protection, or both or neither.

To qualify for utility patent protection, your IP must be legally patentable. The law allows patents for machines, methods, processes and compositions of matter, among other things. Specifically ruled out are ideas, concepts and scientific truths. Your IP must also be new, useful and non-obvious. Failing any of those requirements, you can’t obtain a utility patent. It may be possible to qualify for a design patent, though, if your IP is a new and non-obvious ornamental design applied to an article of manufacture as was explained in https://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/43137/20200108/why-inventhelp-is-a-great-resource-for-new-inventors.htm article.

For trade secret protection, your IP must be information that is valuable because it is not generally known, and you must take reasonable actions to prevent it from being revealed.

In general, if your IP is patentable it is also likely eligible for trade secret protection as an alternative. But if you choose to patent your discovery, you give up the ability to maintain it as a trade secret. When the patent is issued it becomes public information and the invention is no longer secret.

On the other hand, anything that cannot be legally patented may be protectable under trade secret laws if keeping it secret creates an economic advantage for its owner.

Term of Protection

A utility patent gives its owner the exclusive right to benefit from the invention for 20 years. Thereafter, anyone can make, sell or use it. Protection for a design patent issues for 14 years. During the protected period, the patent owner can legally enjoin anyone from using the invention without permission. Even someone who invents or discovers it completely on their own cannot legally use it once it’s been patented as you can see from https://www.latinpost.com/articles/143207/20200108/why-new-inventors-need-assistance-from-inventhelp.htm.

A trade secret, though, has no expiration date. The most famous trade secret example is Coca Cola, which has managed to keep its soft drink formula a trade secret for more than 120 years. Had they patented the formula, it would have entered the public domain 100 years ago, and perhaps ended their business.

A trade secret does lose its protected status, however, when it becomes generally or publicly known. A company whose trade secret is illegally disclosed may be able to claim damages from the offending party, but once out of the bag, the cat can never be put back in.

Trade secret protection also does not prevent anyone from developing the identical information completely on their own, and using it to their benefit or making it public.

A patent keeps out the competition during the patent’s term (twenty years from filing). That means that you can charge higher prices for the patented product, and make more money. Stated in another way, you get “monopoly profits”. This is the government’s reward to you for making the invention in the first place.

Why would the government want to reward me with a patent?

Research and development is costly. A lot less R&D gets done when these costs cannot be recovered.

An invention which you never make is an invention which is never used by you (during the term of the patent) to make monopoly profits. An invention which you never make is an invention which is never used by your competitors (after the patent expires) to make ordinary profits. These missing profits, both yours and theirs, never get taxed. The government doesn’t like this as you can read from https://inspirationfeed.com/how-inventhelp-can-help-you-protect-your-invention/.

At the same time, direct government funding of all R&D is unworkable. Suppose that the government had spent billions of tax dollars to develop (say) new automotive technology. The automobile companies would get rich, and would pay somewhat higher taxes. Yet these billions of tax dollars which were paid to the automobile companies would now no longer be available to be spent somewhere else — perhaps education, or health care. Yes, we would all have somewhat nicer automobiles. We would also all have less-educated children, and sicker elderly parents.

It is far better — politically, practically, and morally — to do two things. First, encourage the private funding of R&D. Second, arrange for the R&D to be ultimately paid for by the people who benefit from it. Let the people who buy a new car every two years be the ones to pay the higher sticker prices — higher sticker prices which are needed to fund R&D. Let the rest of us (with the older automobiles) have better-educated children, and healthier elderly parents — things which we’d choose to have rather than having somewhat nicer automobiles.

This private funding of R&D is easy to encourage. Every automobile company will invest heavily in R&D when it knows that the other automobile companies can’t steal the resulting technology. A patent prevents this kind of theft as described in https://www.oddee.com/how-inventhelp-can-assist-new-inventors/ post.

What is true of R&D is also true of your R&D. Your invention, if patented, will — at least on average — make money for the government as well as for you. The government therefore grants you a patent.