Valuetech Consulting Inc.Intellectual Property : PatentsAut viam inveniam aut faciam Patent StrategiesThese suggested strategies are to help you decide which direction to take with your patenting activities. 1. For the organizedFile a regular application. You know exactly what your invention is and all the possible variations. You have the time to prepare a quality application, including a detailed explanation and clear drawings, and you have the time to review and optimise the claims you want to make. 2. For the spendthriftFile a provisional application. This is advisable if you want to delay expenditure. However, you will probably want to file a regular application at some point claiming the benefit of the provisional application, so total expenditure will be a little higher than if you had just filed a regular application. By then, you may have generated more cash, either through sales or investment. Be very careful not to consider provisional applications as throw-away applications. They must be written to certain standards in order to be fully effective against competitors' patent filings. 3. For the impatientFile a regular application and pay the additional fee for expediting the examination of the patent. This can speed up the grant of a patent from about 3 years to less than 1 year. The sooner you have your patent granted, the sooner you can receive licensing fees or legally exclude others from making or using your invention. 4. For those in panicYou're pretty sure you have an invention, but you need to publicise it in the next few days, either at a trade show or to a group of investors. You're worried that someone will copy it and file their own patent application, and take all the revenues that go with it. You don't trust NDA's or can't get them signed and you've got a thousand other things to deal with. You can fax in a provisional application in some countries, and complete it later. Once this is done, you can file in other countries as required. 5. For doubtful inventionsFile a regular application in the US. This is the easiest jurisdiction in which to obtain a patent. If you are interested in filing a patent application in other countries, you can delay costs as much as possible until you receive the examination result for your US patent application. 6. The world is your oysterFile a PCT application. You would like to receive patent protection in several countries. Although patenting in numerous countries can be very expensive, the PCT application is the best way to proceed, and saves or delays some of the expenditure. Aut viam inveniam aut faciam |