Ever tried to get a patent granted? If you have, you probably know how complex and long winded the process is. 

Not only do you have to delve more and more deeply into the nitty-gritties of how your invention is novel, you also need to pay attention to existing claims and the specifics of what you want to draft and what you have to disclose. 

This is not even getting into the many, many procedural requirements. Every country or organization that grants a patent has their own requirements. All of them need a very specific, individualized set of forms and formal procedures you need to complete. 

Under such circumstances, it can be difficult for any inventor, whose acumen and skills lies in the technology sector, to wrangle with legal tangles. But we’re here to help you cut through the clutter a little. 

After working with over 200 inventors, we have discovered the best way to start your patent journey. We’ve also boiled it down to five simple steps for your reference.

Step 1: Know What You Need To Do

The first mistake every innovator makes is in underestimating the time and effort that goes into getting a patent granted. The invention is merely the first step, protecting it is a whole other matter altogether.

Much like inventions themselves, patents benefit a lot from solid initial investments. A thorough and complete patentability search and expertly drafted patent specifications and claims can go a long way. 

These are the building blocks of your patent, which largely decide how strong your claim to your invention is, and they must not be neglected simply because you cannot see immediate returns on your investment.

Step 2: Do A Patentability Search

Innovations and inventions are not uncommon in today’s world, especially in the technology sector. As per the World Intellectual Property Organization, more than 3.5 million patents were filed in 2021 alone, and the number is only expected to grow.

With so many filings, it’s only natural that a lot of inventions may have overlapping elements. In fact, it is entirely possible that key elements of your invention have already been filed for protection in some form by someone else in another region. 

In such cases, establishing the all-important novelty for your invention might be hard, and all the time, money, and effort that went into your patent application may be wasted. 

A patentability search allows you to avoid this risk. Doing one gives you an overview of potentially conflicting inventions and the elements that may cause that conflict. This in turns allows you to draft the application with a focus on the elements that are actually novel, increasing your chances of getting the patent granted.  

Step 3. Identify the Key Elements in Your Invention

Novelty is one of the biggest stumbling blocks in any application. 

Your innovation is likely to have a key point that makes it uniquely novel. However, it may not be immediately obvious what that key point is, even to the actual inventor. Usually, a discussion between the inventor and a patent agent who has done a patentability search is required to tease out the actual point of novelty in any application.

Once this novelty is identified, the key innovative step must also be taken into account. The patent draft can then be written keeping these two points in mind.

Step 4. Prepare an Effective Patent Draft

The patent draft is the culmination of all your prep work. It’s where you take all the knowledge that you have gained over the past few steps so that you can make an application that stands the least chance of being rejected.

While there are provisions for making small changes to your patent draft in pretty much all jurisdictions, these changes are there only for minor issues. For example, if the examiner deems that an element you’ve already explained is insufficiently clear, the applicant can add additional information to clarify that element. 

However, you cannot bring in new material to a patent draft. Neither can you highlight a new element of novelty that was missed out on in the initial draft. 

The competence of your draft directly influences how likely it is that your invention will pass the examination stage with few or (in some very rare cases) even no objections. 

Step 5. Keep Both Legal and Technological Elements in Mind When Prosecuting Your Patent

Most patent applications are subject to initial objections from the patent office of whichever jurisdiction you decide to file them in. 

If you have followed all the steps so far, chances are you have a solid patent draft with key elements of novelty and inventive step that make your invention patentable. Now, the issue changes to how you can communicate that to the patent examiner. 

Replies to patent examinations can be written or oral. In many cases, so long as the patent draft has all the key elements that make it patentable, a written response alone may be enough to clear the objections. 

Regardless of if the response is written or not, the person authorized to represent the applicant must have a clear idea of the invention and all the steps that led to the patent application and objection. This is also why it is preferable to have one party handle the entire matter from search to prosecution of the patent, as they will have the greatest understanding of your invention with the least amount of effort on your part.

 

Key Takeaways

 

Patent filing may look like a lot of work, and that’s because it is usually the case. However, one of the most disheartening parts of the process is how it may not even be possible to get your patent granted after all of that work. 

The only way to exclude this possibility is to have a qualified patent attorney work along with you every step of the way. The attorney will know what to do and what to avoid, which parts of the invention to focus on and which ones to downplay.

Getting a patent granted may not be easy, but the steps involved in it are certainly simple. Keep these few things in mind, and you exponentially increase your chances of getting patent protection for your invention.

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Interested in innovation, technology and patent protection? I have a lot of insights into how technology protection works from my years in the field, and I’ll be sharing more of them on this blog.

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