Just imagine, you had an idea out of which you invent an app for elderly people, but you are not sure if people will like your app and idea or not, so you decide to keep it to yourselves. A year later, there came an app on the market similar to yours, and the app was immensely loved by everyone.
How will it feel, bad right?
Now think of it, even if you haven’t launched your app, you would have got a patent for your idea, by this way you would have protected your invention and can introduce it commercially.
This is what the importance of patents is. Now, sit back and read the full article to know how to patent an idea.
We have evolved a lot when it comes to protecting an individual’s right to his or her inventions.
Let’s get started!
About Patent
A patent is a legalized document or heap of papers that are granted by the government authorities of a country based on the country’s rules. By getting a patent, an inventor of a particular idea or thing will get an exclusive right to use or sell his/her invention, but for a specific period of time.
The basic idea behind offering patents is to encourage and motivate inventors to protect their own inventions. However, art, books, and music can not be patented. You can only protect your movies, books, and art by getting copyright.
Patents and copyrights are both branches of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).
What Types of Inventions Can be Patented?
For any idea or an invention to be qualified for a patent, it must tick green in the boxes of these three basic requirements:
- The invention or app idea must be novel and unique. Thus, the particular invention must be new and it should not have any existential traces of it.
- It must be one of its kind. It means any advanced improvement in the current technology by the inventor cannot be patented.
- It should be useful. It should improve the lives of the commoners, it must not benefit or support any kind of illegal activity, and it should not have any immoral purpose.
What Type of Inventions Cannot be Patented?
Even though the idea of getting a patent is to protect one’s idea, there are certain things that do not qualify for getting a patent, and it is equally important to know about these points. So here are some ideas or inventions that cannot be patented:
- Any practice of agriculture or horticulture
- Any method in the medicinal and surgical field or in the treatment of human beings, animals or plants.
- Any upgrade of anything that is linked to atomic energy.
- The invention of the new machine, apparatus or process.
Steps of Getting a Patent
To get a patent for your idea, you can look for the patent company or simply follow these steps:
1. Work on your invention and document the entire time
Keep a diary and document everything-the ideas, modifications, and diagrams. Date each of your entries in the diary.
2. Confirm that you have an invention and not a mere idea
Do patent research to ensure that you do have an invention that hasn’t been patented yet by someone else.
3. Find out whether your invention is commercially viable
Do market research to determine whether getting a patent is best for your financial interests or not.
4. Hire a patent attorney
You will need a lawyer to help you with more detailed research, and they will guide you through the entire application process.
5. Submit the provisional patent application
By getting a provisional patent, you will have extra time to fine-tune your inventions.
