Patent Attorney and Founder
Did you know that a little innocent post on social media could get you in a whole host of trouble and in fact invalidate your ability to get a patent
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hey welcome to how to get it patent on your idea I’m JD Hoover and I’m the CEO and principal here at bold Penn’s Law Firm I’m going to be here today talking about what it means to get a pat on an idea and some of the nuances all the way along the track gotta know right out of the gate that when I say idea it kind of pangs me a little bit because I know that ideas well certainly valuable and I mean I talk about bold ideas right in my book ideas are by Nature dime a dozen okay everybody’s got ideas fun cool big small but what does it mean to actually bring an idea to an invention okay so the major difference is that an invention is something you’ve really thought about you’ve thought through well enough to where you could describe it right how to make it how to bring it about just in paper right on paper through drawings someone else could take what you’ve wrote and go build it okay that’s an invention we work with inventors at both pads we want you to move from idea to invention with us and with our help one thing I got to mention up front too is that ideas sometimes can get carried away right these are Big Ideas right you think about what how could I improve and it oftentimes comes with some barriers right cost issues maybe government’s got regulations blocking the situation something you have to know is that there’s no requirement to build a prototype okay don’t think you have to spend you know tens or even hundred thousand dollars building your prototype if it’s if the idea is that big you’ve simply got a bill to articulate it through words and draw thanks to move your idea from that phase to an invention is your patent eligible do you fit into one of the four patented areas is it patentable do you have a machine do you have a process do you have an assembly or do you have a composition of matter if you fit into one of those categories you’re patent eligible you can move forward if you have any questions about what it means what those categories mean and they want more information about whether your specific invention is eligible I encourage you to visit our website bold ip.com we’ve got lots of free resources there for you someone who’s just getting started or someone who’s maybe inventing their second project wants a little more advanced information we’ve got that for you too and I want to show you really quickly in the book I wrote just a year and a half ago both ideas the inventor’s guide to patents this has got all the essentials that you need to help understand what’s the difference between a patent and a trade secret patented a trademark this is it grab your free copy downloadable PDF version on our website at bold ip.com today after you’ve figured out whether your invention is eligible or not the next step is okay which inventors should I indicate okay this sort of can be sort of coming out of left field but if you’re not the only inventor you’re actually obligated to include all the inventors in the application so when does someone actually become an inventor great question generally an inventor is someone that’s added to the conceptual idea right there’s a foundational principle some people get confused and think that someone who manufactures a product or helps with the Prototype is part of the it should be listed as an inventor and that’s not true right someone can be the architect the designer known as the inventor and says please make this per this plan the person that makes it sure well they’re well in their Craft and Good at their skill they didn’t actually invent and come up with any aspects of it so if you have any more questions about inventorship again please give us a contact and if you’re getting good value out of this video we’d love to get this out to as many inventors as possible so please give us a like or thumbs up share this video with someone you know that could really use this information we want to be able to help all inventors reach their Visionary dreams alright so once you’ve kind of identified who the inventors are it’s next important to understand the ownership so sometimes employees are also inventors right you’ve got data jobs and so something to really make sure you’re clear about is that if you want to own this invention on your own you’ve got to do so on your own time and that includes using your own resources so if you’re using a computer using a you know a 3D printer and if you’re using some sort of CAD system you’ve got to understand your own resources need to be used and it can’t be related to the job you have so another Deep dive inquiry if there’s sort of a gray area maybe you were on the clock maybe you were even assigned to a project and it’s related to what you’re trying to seek Pat Spectrum for get with us right away we need to make sure it’s clear who’s going to own this thing the last thing we want to do is end up taking your money and have the patent owned by your by your business okay all right so after inventorship and ownership is cleared the way to get a patent is to make sure you’re going to be clear about what your goals are your goals business goals to you know own this thing long term and to have a business created around it and to make this a really long-lasting business or is it your goal to really just license and sell it get it done if it’s the latter you’ll want to work directly with us as patent attorneys and just get your your patent packaged up so that it’s most lucrative most valuable to someone looking to license and sell it if your goal is to start a new business I mean good on you right that’s how this this country was founded that is what entrepreneurs are all about they love serving them but know that we are just a part of the professional sphere of the people you need to get a hold of to make this dream happen so we do our best to refer you to the people that we have trusted over the years to help our clients out succeed in business so let us know up front work with an attorney to make sure they’re clear about what your goals are so you can get referrals to the people that you need to get help with down the road so the next thing to take a look at and this goes back to my social media question right at the beginning is okay if you’ve if you’ve talked about your invention and shared your invention there is a one-year statutory rule right one year that’s 12 months if you have disclosed your invention online right talked about what your invention is showed a video about what your invention does to get feedback put it up on Kickstarter or even sold your invention which includes even making an offer for sale more than a year ago you are ineligible for patent protection okay I know that’s tough to hear so there are some workarounds okay so if you are under that category where you’ve actually disclosed your invention more than a year ago it could be right it could be that you’ve invented you’ve made some improvements on your invention since you posted that so you could get protection over just those improvements and we could certainly talk about that at a free consultation with one of our advisors and move forward to help you with getting in touch with the patent attorney today all right so the next thing to think about is the patent ability okay so as you get down this path you’ve explored eligibility inventorship ownership now you pass the statutory bars you’re not going to be barred you haven’t disclosed your subject matter you’re not at issue there now is your invention patentable you have to show three things okay novelty non-obviousness and has to have utility those are the three biggies so without those three you can’t move forward novelty just means has to be new new in the world it has to be non-obvious you know not a obvious version of another prior art that’s already out there prior art is it’s a fancy word for any reference technical or otherwise patent document or non-patent document that’s talked about the industry talked about your type of Technology if it’s out there in the market The Examiner will find it that’s what you’ve got to know up front is if you’ve got an obvious iteration or something that’s already been done before utility means you have to show that there’s some benefit some entertainment value even some Financial benefits some economic benefit or mechanical leverage and so on those are all great utilities to show all right so the second piece of whether you move forward or not is looking one at patentability but the other one is marketability don’t forget your end goal should be to make money and to be successful in business so not only we want to look at hey can we get you a patent on this but will this succeed in the market so you’ve got to take a look at both of those pieces as a business owner as an inventor moving forward to make a sound business decision now we’re at the phase of being able to prepare your application for filing you’ve got all this work behind you working with your patent attorney how do you move to the next stage you’ve got to put together the written description what’s also called a specification the spec talks about every single part of your invention and how it is coming together right the how the details this explains through words how to build it how it functions with the inputs and outputs are and in the end we’ll provide the basis for what you’re claiming is yours in which you invented so when you submit the written description the claims and the drawings of the patent office you do so most effectively by electronically filing it the electronic uh submittal will actually save you some money the USPTO has done a lot lately to help move things in the right direction and moving toward a paperless environment well there’s one final thing to think about when you file your application in the U.S is to not be short-sighted think big right so think about International protection get with your patent attorney to think about what it might take to get your Patent filed in other countries there’s a fantastic mechanism called the patent cooperation treaty PCT that’s what allow you to file in as many countries as you want and it’ll also give you time up to a year and a half to decide when to file in which country stay tuned for more we got a separate video on the patent cooperation treaty coming up it’s been so fun talking with you here today about how to get a patent what the fundamentals are all the way through in this all step process if you have any questions at all we love to field those questions give us a thumbs up like and share this video with anyone you might know and again I’m JD hooverner the CEO and managing partner at bold patents it’s been my pleasure talking with you here today go big go bowl
go big go gold