This is the first article in my series on the patent prosecution process. The process starts with an idea. Most inventors tell me that in their regular business practices the notice something that is inefficient, ineffective or simply irritating that has been this way for a long time. It could be a business practice, a piece of machinery or software that simply has been defective for a very long time. They tell me that they could come up with a better process, but they are not sure if they could recover their costs.
That’s where I come in. I’m a patent attorney and I help inventors obtain value from their ideas. In this article I am going to cover a brief history of the patent system and how it ideally works. Then I am going to explain how getting a patent can help offset the costs innovation.
Back in renaissance England, some doctors found a great way to prevent death in child birth – forceps. But it cost them so much money to figure this out, they kept them a secret, making everyone leave the delivery room before taking the tools out and blindfolding the mother. Queen Anne, figured out what was going on and decided to make a deal with the early obstetricians. If they explained how to make and use their device, they would receive the exclusive right to use the forceps for twenty years. Any physician who wanted to use the devices and technique would have to pay these innovators a fee or risk being sued in the Queen’s court.
The modern patent system was born, and it is pretty much the same today. In exchange for explaining how to make and use an invention, the inventor gets to be the only person in the country to make and use that invention for a specific period of time.
This exclusive right (if enforced) has the microeconomic effect of creating a monopoly. The inventor can receive more for their product than they otherwise could because they are the only ones allowed to make it. This raises the price of goods. In some cases, that increase in price offsets the price of obtaining a profit and earns a profit for the inventor. Other inventors seek patents for marketing reasons.
Whatever your motives are, the next step in obtaining a patent is getting your idea to work.