• Home
  • About
    • Client Reviews
    • Patent Samples
    • Accolades
    • About Firm
    • Technologies
    • FAQs
  • Services
    • Patent
      • Utility Patents
      • Design Patents
      • Patent Application
      • Patent Defense
      • Patent Enforcement
      • Working with In-House Attorneys
    • Trademark
      • Trademark Search
      • Trademark Application
      • Trademark Enforcement
      • Trademark Defense
    • Licensing
    • Worldwide IP
    • Risk Management
    • Due Diligence
  • Industries
    • Browse Patent Samples
    • Automotive Patents
    • Construction Patents
    • Consumer Products Patents
    • Electronics Patents
    • Food, Beverage, & Other Culinary Patents
    • Manufacturing Patents
    • Medical Products & Devices Patents
    • Optics Patents
    • Software & App Patents
    • Tools & Equipment Patents
  • Learning Resources
    • First-Time Inventor?
    • Why Patent Your Invention in a Bad Economy?
    • Videos on Patents
    • Search 180+ Articles
      • Patent process
        • Overview of Patent Process
          • Patent process timeline and major milestones
          • Patent Process: Invention to Patent Granted (Simplified)
          • Patent process, overall steps and procedures
        • Overview of the examination process within the USPTO
          • Highs and lows of securing patent protection for your invention
          • What is the Patent Office procedure after filing a patent application?
        • Benefits of a Patent Search
          • What is a patent search and How to do it?
        • Patent attorneys, agents and the USPTO can help with the patent process
        • USPTO Website
      • Invention Agreements
        • What is an NDA and when to use them?
        • How to use a contract to protect your invention?
        • Working with others without losing your IP rights
        • Patent Assignments for Independent Contractors
        • Losing Invention Rights When Hiring or Collaborating with Others
        • Avoid Problems: Get an Invention Assignment Agreement
      • Protect Inventions
        • Misconceptions of Provisional Patent Applications
        • Do you need to get your patent attorney to sign an NDA?
        • Can a confidentiality agreement protect me like a patent application?
        • Four types of intellectual property to protect your idea and how to use them
          • Overview of Patents and Intellectual Property
          • Patent protection benefits and why every inventor should consider getting one
          • 8 tips to successfully protect your idea
          • Benefits of Patent Protection
          • Best uses for design patents
        • Reasons to only market your invention after securing patent pendency
          • Dangers of 1 yr grace period under first-inventor-to-file system
          • File a patent application before telling others about the invention
        • Risks and benefits of securing software patent protection
          • Strategy to overcome patentable subject matter rejection
        • Pros and cons of filing a continuation-in-part application
          • What is a continuation patent application?
      • How Patent Applications Work: the Basics
        • How to respond to an office action?
        • Request for non-publication of a patent application
        • Anatomy of a Patent Document
        • How to write a broad patent application?
        • Design patents: pros and cons
      • Patent costs
        • How much does it cost to get a utility patent?
        • Provisional Patent Application: Cheap Alternative?
        • Patent Cost Framework and cash flow
        • Provisional patent application: a cheap option?
        • Cheap provisional patent applications
      • Patent infringement
        • Basics of writing a patent claim for a patent application
        • Patent Marking: Everything you wanted to know
        • Avoiding Patent Infringement
        • Can I Copy My Competitor’s Product?
        • Can I Copy My Competitor’s Product? (Design Patent)
      • Worldwide patents
        • Pros and cons of securing worldwide patent protection and their steps
        • Foreign patent filing to secure protection in other countries
      • Responding to Office Actions
        • Overview of Office Actions
      • Trademarks
        • Trademark Registration: common law, state and federal
        • How to obtain a federal trademark registration?
        • How to select a trademark?
          • Protect your idea when pitching to an investor, potential licensee, or buyer
  • Schedule Consultation
  • Contact

Top-Rated Orange County Patent Lawyer | Helping Inventors in Orange County, Los Angeles County & Beyond | OC Patent Lawyer, Irvine CA

Orange County Patent Attorney

(949) 433-0900
You are here: Home / Patent process / Patent process timeline and major milestones

Patent process timeline and major milestones

October 27, 2015 by James Yang

Updated: January 20, 2022

The patent process timeline has been mapped out below.  We will go over the timeline of the patent process using this flow chart.

 

The overall patent process timeline begins with a patent search.  It is an optional step and you need not conduct a formal patent search.  However, there are advantages to conducting an informal Do-it-Yourself patent search.  (Click here for DIY patent search instructions from the USPTO).  The reason is that the cost of conducting a formal patent search through a patent search firm may outweigh its benefits as discussed below.

After the patent search, the next step is to file a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  Upon filing the patent application, your product is now patent pending.  Some refer to this stage as being patent protected but the phrase “patent protected” is misleading.  The product is patent pending but not patent protected in its fullest sense.  The product is protected in that the filing date of the patent application prevents others from learning of your idea through your marketing efforts and filing their own patent application on your idea.    The reason is that you have priority.  Any third-party filing will be junior to your first filed patent application.  As such, your idea is patent protected in the sense of its pendency.  By no means does patent pendency provide any sort of enforceable rights to stop others from marketing your idea in the marketplace.  For that, you would have to wait till your patent application matures into a patent.

If your first filed patent application was filed as a provisional patent application then a follow-up non-provisional patent application must be filed within one year. If the patent application was filed as a non-provisional patent application, then it has entered the queue for examination.  The examination is typically based on a first-come, first-served basis.  Normally, utility patent applications are examined within about 1-3 years depending on the then-current backlog at the Patent Office and the art unit your patent application is assigned to by the Patent Office.

The 1-3 year time period you have to wait for your patent application to be examined can be cut down to a time period of about 6 months by filing a prioritized examination request.  This is a pure pay-to-play system.  The prioritized examination moves your patent application from the back of the line to the front.  If the issuance of the patent is important to potential investments, sales, enforcement strategy, or other business purposes,  then prioritized examination is a great tool to expedite examination, and hopefully, issuance of a patent.  If one of the inventors is over 65, then the examination process can also be accelerated by filing a petition based on the inventor’s age.  Otherwise, in my opinion, waiting and redirecting the fee you would have spent on prioritized examination to marketing or product development may be more useful.

Here is where the formal patent search may be less useful.  The formal patent search for all intents and purposes is merely the opinion of a patent attorney regarding the probability that the Patent Office will grant or deny the patent application for patent.  However, the scope of the prior art is worldwide and includes patent applications that may not be published until after a patent application is filed.  Thus,  the search may miss references that are found and used by the Patent Office to reject the patent application.  A formal patent search is never a guarantee of whether you will obtain a patent.  By requesting a prioritized examination, the opinion of the examiner at the Patent Office is obtained in about 6 months’ time.  Preparing the patent application and filing the prioritized examination request is significantly more expensive than going through a formal patent search.  However, if the grant of the patent is of high importance, then forgoing the patent search and filing a patent application with a prioritized examination MAY be a better option.  Nevertheless, there are apparent advantages of conducting at least an informal patent search.

Once your patent application is examined, the Patent Office will mail an office action.  The office action is simply the official stance of the patent office on whether they will grant or deny one or more claims in the patent application.  This is merely the initial opinion of the Patent Office.  The patent attorney’s role is to convince the examiner that the claims are patentable by amending the claims and providing arguments to support the patentability of your invention.  Most patent applications at the Patent Office are initially rejected. Hence, the mere rejection of the claims of the patent application is not a good indicator of how the prosecution will go for the patent application.  Instead, it is better to take a substantive review of the cited prior art references and have a discussion as to whether the examiner cited relevant art or art that would be easy to overcome.  A patent attorney responds to the office action by preparing claim amendments and arguments in support of patentability. The office action and response cycle is should be completed at least once or twice to get a good feel for the examiner’s stance on the matter.  If successful, then a patent is issued and you may at that point enforce your patent against your competitors.  If unsuccessful, then an appeal can be made to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).  If the marketing of the product is not doing well, then you can always abandon the patent application without incurring any further costs.

Throughout the entire pendency of the patent application, all persons involved in the patent application have a duty to disclose relevant information that might cause the examiner to reject the patent application through an information disclosure statement.

Overall, the patent process timeline is a long-drawn-out process that can be shortened by petition.  Moreover, the costs associated with the patent process do not end with the filing of the patent application.  There are other downstream costs due to further communications between the patent attorney, the patent office, and the client.

I invite you to contact me with your patent questions at (949) 433-0900. Please feel free to forward this article to your friends. As an Orange County Patent Attorney, I serve Orange County, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego, and surrounding cities.

Related Articles for Patent Process

  • How to successfully navigate the patent process from invention to patent granted?
  • Overview of the examination process within the USPTO
  • Highs and lows of securing patent protection for your invention
  • Who can provide assistance with the patent process?
  • Purpose of a novelty search and resources for conducting one yourself
  • Benefits of a Patent Search
  • Overview of Patent Process
  • Patent process timeline and major milestones
  • Patent process, overall steps and procedures
  • What happens at the Patent Office after filing a patent application?
  • USPTO Website
  • Maintenance fees
  • Patent Term Adjustments due to delays
  • Conducting a Patent Search
  • Finding the right class and subclass for the DIY patent search
  • Manual of Patent Examining Procedure – MPEP
  • Dictionary of Patent Terms

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Author

James Yang is a patent attorney. For more than 16 years, James Yang has been representing clients to secure patent protection for their inventions and register trademarks to protect their brands. If you need help, call him at (949) 433-0900. Read More…

Popular Posts

  • Patent process overview
  • Patent process explained
  • How much does a patent cost?
  • Why patent your invention in a bad economy?

Patent Book

Navigating the Patent System - new book by Orange County patent attorney, James Yang

Navigating the Patent System: Learn the patent process and strategies to protect your invention

Read for Free
Buy at Amazon

RECEIVE PATENT ARTICLES

Stay up to date on major changes and get tips on the patent process.

We respect your privacy.

Popular Posts

Patent process overview
Patent process explained
How much does a patent cost?
Trademark process and costs
Patent process and costs

 

Services

Utility Patents
Design Patents
Patent Prosecution Services
Patent Defense Services
Patent-Law Counsel for In-House Attorneys
Trademark Prosecution Services
See All Services

Industries

Automotive Patents
Consumer Products Patents
Culinary Patents
Manufacturing Patents
Medical Patents
Optics Patents
Software & App Patents
See All Industries

Contact

James Yang
OC Patent Lawyer
2372 Morse Ave., Suite #178
Irvine, CA 92614
Tel: (949) 433-0900

Connect

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Sitemaps

Sitemap: Pages | Sitemap: Posts

Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

By accessing this blog, you agree that no attorney-client relationship is formed except by a subsequent written retainer agreement. Also, you agree to not send confidential information unless directed by me to do so. The information posted on this blog is legal information and not legal advice.
Complete Terms of Use
Complete Privacy Policy

ADA Compliance

OC Patent Lawyer aims to ensure that its services are accessible to people with disabilities.
Accessibility Statement

Service Area

From our office in Irvine, California, we serve clients from all areas within Orange County and Los Angeles County, California.

© 2023 · James Yang, Your Entrepreneur and Mid-Size Business Patent Attorney