Patentable ideas and inventions research is crucial to the success of patents- a big part of the patenting equation, and of the patent process itself. A checklist is required to verify that your ‘baby’ is good enough for the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s scrutiny and examination.
Not Every Idea is Patentable
Finding out that an idea or invention is not patentable could be good news. You save hours of labor, other people’s time, your time, not to mention money spent on materials, and the application process itself. Don’t get your application rejected with merit.
The following 10 point checklist will help guarantee a more successful patent process, with smaller likelihood of being rejected:
How to Determine if an Idea or Invention is Patentable?
prior art, Idea or invention:
has not been described in detail, or sold for over a year or more by you or others
is not already available in print, online publications or other media
has not already been patented
Does the Idea or Invention Pass so far?
If so, proceed to point number 5:
5. putting to practice. Idea or invention. 6. is useful and solves a known problem, or improves on an existing solution 7. describes different uses 8. describes different designs 9. performs better or worse than an existing invention e.g Remember the story about Post-It®s 10. is non-obvious; an expert in that field should not be able to easily create the invention 11. is claimed, sufficiently and clearly described in the patent specification 12. must be easy enough for someone with ordinary skills in the field of the invention to make and use