Why Hire a Patent Agent?
Anyone who invents a new process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, whether entirely new or an improvement on a prior invention, or who designs an article with an original, ornamental appearance, may pursue a patent or an industrial design registration to protect that invention or design. While it may be possible for an inventor to persuade a Patent Office Examiner to allow some sort of patent without expert help, the drafting of patent claims and the application for a patent, in general, are complex processes that are difficult to accomplish effectively without considerable experience in prosecuting patents before the Patent Office. Please contact us to receive our free booklet entitled “Patents: Protecting Your Inventions” to learn more about the patent application process in general, and to learn how we can be of assistance to you in obtaining patent protection on your invention.
How to Get Started With the Patent Process
Before applying for a patent, it is important to conduct a thorough search of existing commercial products and prior patents. The intent behind a preliminary search is to see whether the patentability of the invention can be easily ruled out, thus saving the inventor the further effort and more significant expense of filing a patent application in one or more countries, only later to have the Patent Office reject the patent application on the basis of prior art that could have been located in such a preliminary search. While it is advisable to involve the services of a Patent Agent when conducting a preliminary search due to their familiarity with the appropriate search resources and their operation, there exists many publicly-accessible databases that are available free of charge and may be searched initially by the inventor before contacting a Patent Agent. Some publicly-accessible databases for conducting your own patent search include Google Patents, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Please contact us if you would like to receive any guidance on conducting your own patent search, or to arrange a preliminary consultation to help assess whether any distinctive features of the invention may still be patentable over the references located in your own search.
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