Patent applications are for inventors who know what is novel about their inventions and what they want to patent. They can get this information either by examining the results of a patentability search or obtaining a patentability opinion. I am a Registered Patent Attorney who helps people obtain patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In this article I am going to explain what goes into a patent application and why it’s important to have a Registered Patent Attorney do it for you.
A patent application comprises an abstract, specification, drawings claims, and an inventor’s oath. The application also includes an application data sheet, a power of attorney, an information disclosure sheet and a transmittal letter in the initial filing. Here is a brief description of the supplemental materials:
The Application Data Sheet contains the names, addresses and nationalities of the inventors, along with the name and address of the assignee, if there is one. It also contains some basic information about the rest of the filing including the invention’s title and the number of claims. The power of attorney allows a registered patent attorney to prosecute the application on your behalf. The information data sheet contains the results of the patent search that are pertinent to the material in the application. The transmittal letter contains a lot of the same information as the application data sheet and indicates the amount of fees involved.
With regard to the other parts of the application: the Abstract is a brief description of the subject matter of the invention. The specification contains 1) the background of the invention 2) a discussion of any prior art documents included in the information disclosure sheet 3) a brief summary of the invention 4) a list of the drawings and 5) a detailed description of the drawings. The specification is the most difficult portion of the application to produce and all of the materials in the claims must be completely disclosed by the specification. The drawings are a series of figures that explain how to make and use the device.
The claims are the heart of the patent application, the only material that can be protected is in the claims. The claims explain the novel portions of the device for which the inventor seeks protection. It is critical that the claims be adequately explained by both the drawings and specification.
Registered Patent Attorneys break down the complexity of patent applications into zones: an invention is minimally complex when it has a ten-page specification and ten claims. An invention is relatively complex when it has a 10-20 page specification and 10-20 claims. An invention is very complex when it requires more than a twenty-page specification and more than twenty claims. A minimally complex application typically costs $7,000. A relatively complex biotechnology or chemical application typically costs $12,000. A relatively complex electrical or computer application typically costs $9,000. A relatively complex mechanical application typically costs $8,000. A very complex application has a wide range of potential costs. None of these applications include USPTO fees, which the inventor pays.
Given those costs, a few inventors feel it is better to save the money than to hire a Registered Patent Attorney. While most inventors could probably draft the supplemental documents without much difficulty, the patent application itself requires a lot of skill to draft. For instance, claims must be written in a very particular way that contains grammar abhorrent to most other uses in the English language. Each claim must be a single sentence, broken up into elements, led by a preamble. It is very difficult to do this without some practice.
A Registered Patent Attorney has passed an examination displaying the requisite knowledge to assist clients in obtaining patent protection for a device. In fact, unregistered attorneys (unless they happen to be inventors as well) are not allowed to submit patents to the patent office. The Law Office of Michael O’Brien has the knowledge to assist inventors in obtaining patent protection for their inventions, and would love to speak to you about your latest creation.