Denver Patent Attorney Q & A Part 6

Denver Patent Attorney Q & A Part 6

What if I am still developing my invention?

Even if you are still developing your invention, you can file a provisional patent application. Then if you come up with more developments during the one year before the provisional patent application expires, you can add those new features to the regular patent application. This way, nothing gets left out.

What if my product is fully developed?

Even if you think your invention is fully developed, it’s always good to get a second opinion (and a third opinion, and a fourth opinion . . . ). Showing your invention to friends and family, having a prototype built, and testing your invention may all lead to improvements, fixing things that don’t work, or coming up with different ways of implementing your invention.

Can I show my invention to others without losing rights to my invention?

Getting those second opinions means showing your invention to others, which can be risky business if you haven’t already filed at least a provisional patent application. In addition to reducing the risk that someone sees your invention and claims it as their own, a provisional patent application can also be important evidence that your invention belongs to you.

What if I want to test the market for my invention?

Maybe you think your invention is the greatest idea since the light bulb. You’ve told your spouse and a few close friends, and they all agree. But what really counts is how your invention is what the customers think. There are many patents issued every year, and many more patent applications filed, that never make it in the marketplace. Wouldn’t it be good to get some customer feedback to find out whether your invention is really all you think it is? Wouldn’t it be good to know whether your invention will be an instant success, whether it needs some more work, or whether it’s a total flop before you invest too much time, effort, and money in this idea?

Mark Trenner Presenting At Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute Event

Mark Trenner, Colorado patent attorney at Trenner Law Firm, will give a presentation at the University of Denver campus Day Of Service volunteer event sponsored by the Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute on Saturday, November 12, 2011. Learn more about the Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute.

More details below . . .

Title: Every business has an IP Portfolio – Learn how to build, protect, and monetize your IP Portfolio.

Summary: Starting a business . . . what will your intellectual property (IP) portfolio look like? Think you won’t have one . . . think again. Do you plan to offer a product or service for sale? Do you plan to have a website or at least a brochure? Do you plan to have a customer list? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you will have an IP portfolio. So what can you do to protect your IP portfolio? Don’t say it’s too expensive. Come to this presentation, and you will (1) learn to identify at least 2-3 types of IP every business has whether they know it or not, (2) learn fast, free, and inexpensive ways to protect this IP and build your own IP portfolio, and (3) understand how your IP portfolio adds real value to the bottom line of your business, whether you are looking for financing, venture capital, a business partner, or eventual sale of your business.

Contact Mark Trenner if you are interested having him speak with your business or group.

Patent Attorney Colorado Q & A Part 5

colorado patent law firm

Patent Attorney Colorado Q & A Part 5

Okay, if my invention is new and not obvious, what then?

You have a couple of options. You can file a provisional patent application, or you can file a regular patent application for your invention.

What is a provisional patent application?

A provisional patent application is a patent application that describes your invention in words and optionally with drawings or pictures, and when filed with the United States Patent Office, receives a serial number and a filing date. On the same day that you file your provisional patent application with the United States Patent Office, you can mark your invention (brochures describing your invention, etc.) with the words “Patent Pending” (or “Pat. Pend.” for short).

Then what’s the difference between a provisional patent application and a regular patent application?

A provisional patent application is never examined by the U.S. Patent Office and automatically goes abandoned after one year from the filing date.

If a provisional patent application goes abandoned after only one year, why would I file one

Your budget (or lack of a budget) is probably the number one reason to opt for filing a provisional patent application. In general, provisional patent applications cost significantly less than filing a regular patent application. There are no formal requirements for a provisional patent application, like there are for a regular patent application. So in general, it takes a patent attorney more time to prepare a regular patent application than it takes to prepare a basic provisional patent application. It’s the old adage that “Time Is Money.”

If you can’t afford to file a regular patent application just yet, but you don’t want to lose rights to your invention, consider filing a less expensive provisional patent application. Then when you have money from sales of your invention, or investors lined up, you can better afford to file a regular patent application.

For more information on Mark Trenner’s Colorado Patent law firm, follow this link:

Patent Attorney Colorado

Colorado Patent Attorney Q & A Part 4

Colorado Patent Attorney Mark Trenner Answers More Questions in His Radio Show Interview:

Does the US Patent Office have any resources?

If you still can’t find anything like your idea, either online or in stores, you can try heading over to the US Patent Office website. The US Patent Office has a free online database of all patents ever issued (yes, all the way back to 1790), and all patent applications published since 2001.

How do I develop a good search strategy?

That can be tricky. Don’t spend too much time here. Instead, hire a patent attorney to do a patentability search and analysis for you. Often when I provide the search results to a client, the inventor says “I didn’t realize there were already so many products so similar to mine.”

That’s why we do the prior art search. It’s better to find out that your idea already exists before you spend too much money filing a patent application for your invention with the US Patent Office, only to have your patent application rejected because someone else already had your idea.

Alright, if the prior art search didn’t turn up anything relevant to my invention, what’s next?

There are two basic requirements any invention must meet in order to file a patent application. Of course there are other requirements too, but let’s focus on what is arguably the most basic patentability requirements.

Okay, what’s first?

The US Patent Laws requires that your invention be unique or “novel”. If you haven’t figured it out already, you can’t patent someone else’s idea or an idea that is already on the market – it isn’t any invention.

For the rest of the interview, visit the Colorado Patent Attorney blog.

Colorado Patent Attorney presents "How to protect your Intellectual Property"

Mark Trenner has been advising individuals, entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small businesses how to protect their inventions and other intellectual property with patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.

Mark Trenner is now making this information available to anyone starting a new business (or even just thinking of starting a new business), and running a small business. Included are ways to identify intellectual property you may not even know that you have, and free and inexpensive ways to protect your intellectual property.

Contact Trenner Law Firm if you would like Mark Trenner to speak at your event.

Trenner Law Firm, LLC is an intellectual property and business law firm, based in the Denver-metro area, with a main office in Evergreen, Colorado, and virtual office space available for meeting clients in many convenient locations throughout the front range. Trenner Law assists clients throughout the greater Rocky Mountain region and across the United States with patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

Colorado Patent Attorney offers workshop for small business owners

Mark Trenner has been advising individuals, entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small businesses how to protect their inventions and other intellectual property with patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.

Mark Trenner is now making this information available to anyone starting a new business (or just thinking of starting a new business), and running a small business, by offering a workshop to teach you how to build, protect, and monetize your IP Portfolio.

See below for complete details about this valuable workshop, and contact Trenner Law Firm if you would like Colorado Patent Attorney Mark Trenner to bring this workshop to your group or organization.

Title: Every business has an IP Portfolio – learn how to build, protect, and monetize your IP Portfolio.

Summary: Starting a business . . . what will your intellectual property (IP) portfolio look like? Think you won’t have one . . . think again. Do you plan to offer a product or service for sale? Do you plan to have a website or at least a brochure? Do you plan to have a customer list? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you will have an IP portfolio. So what can you do to protect your IP portfolio? Don’t say it’s too expensive. Come to this workshop, and you will:

(1) Identify at least 2-3 types of IP every business has whether they know it or not,

(2) Learn fast, free, and inexpensive ways to protect this IP and build your own IP portfolio, and

(3) Understand how your IP portfolio adds real value to the bottom line of your business, whether you are looking for financing, venture capital, a business partner, or eventual sale of your business.

Trenner Law Firm, LLC is an intellectual property and business law firm, based in the Denver-metro area, with a main office in Evergreen, Colorado, and virtual office space available for meeting clients in many convenient locations throughout the front range. Trenner Law assists clients throughout the greater Rocky Mountain region and across the United States with patents, trademarks, and copyrights.