Patent Attorney and Founder
What’s a patent, and why would you need one?
I’m JD Houvener, patent attorney and founder of Bold Patents Law Firm. I also wrote a book called Bold Ideas: The Inventor’s Guide to Patents. If you want a deeper dive, check out the link below for our Bold Inventor’s Kit, you’ll get a free PDF of my book and a bunch of helpful info on patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.
Now, back to the question.
A patent is a legal right. The U.S. government gives it to inventors like you so you alone can make, use, or sell your invention in the U.S.
It’s not automatic. You’ve got to prove two things:
- You’re the first to come up with it.
- It’s truly different, not just a small tweak on something that already exists.
To do that, you submit documents and drawings to the U.S. Patent Office. They’ll search through past inventions to make sure yours stands out. If it checks out, they’ll give you a patent, usually good for up to 20 years.
So, do you need a patent to sell your product?
No.
You can sell without one. But without protection, someone else can copy your idea, and you won’t have much ground to stand on if they do.
That’s why patents matter. They give you a head start. A window of time to build your business without worrying about copycats swooping in right away.
Now, a quick heads-up: a patent isn’t a force field. Smart competitors might look at what you’ve done and try to design around it. That happens, especially in fast-moving industries like tech. But if you keep improving your product and inventing new things along the way, you can file more patents and stay ahead.
Bottom line?
You don’t need a patent to start a business. But if you’ve built something unique, and you want to protect it, it can be a powerful tool to help you grow, stand out, and stay competitive.
That’s it for today. Thanks for listening.
Go big. Go bold.