Zero to Patent Pending

Below are answers to frequently asked questions about how to protect to protect your invention. The purpose of a patent is to protect your potential future revenue and profit stream.  Sometimes, inventors don't want to secure a patent because of the high cost for securing patent protection.  However, my response is that the cost to secure patent protection is minimal compared to the high cost of doing business without patent protection.  I would make one slight distinction regarding the value that the patent brings to the product launch sequence. In some circumstances, it is not worth securing a granted patent before you start to market and sell your invention to the public.  Nevertheless, it is my opinion that securing patent pending status would still be worthwhile and delaying the expenses (i.e., examination costs) associated with arguing with the examiner to get the patent granted.  

The primary difference between a provisional and nonprovisional patent application is not the cost. You will find many different websites and patent attorneys and agents that advertise a low cost provisional patent application.  The Patent Office states that the purpose of the provisional patent application is to provide a lower cost option.  The key word here is lower.  They do not say that the provisional patent application is a cheap option.  Surely, if the provisional patent application is prepared to provide the same degree of patent-pendency type patent protection, then the provisional patent application is not a cheap option compared to the nonprovisional patent application.  It is a lower cost option. The primary difference is that the provisional patent application is never examined and the nonprovisional patent application does enter the queue for examination at the Patent Office.  This means that the primary use at least in my opinion for the provisional is that it can be used as a means to delay examination of your patent application, and thus consequentially delay the examination costs.  

The difference between a design patent and a utility patent is that the design patent protects the way that a product looks or its aesthetic value, whereas, the utility patent protects the functional aspects of your product.  You need to understand the value of the design patent versus the utility patent before you can decide whether you should seek a design patent, utility patent or incur the cost to seek both.