Are You Ready to Get Patents for Your Inventions?

If you have invented something, even just on paper, that is unique and useful, as well as non-obvious, you can put patents it. It is advisable to do so if you ever plan to make your dream a reality and find a way to earn money from it. This avoids having another person steal your prototype idea and taking all the profits.

Patents are essentially a copyright for your idea. They gives you exclusive rights to that idea for a period of time, such as 20 years. During that time period, you can ignore the fact that you invented something, sell the idea, or develop it and earn from it. The patents give you the right to use the idea in any manner you please to earn money and that money only goes to the patents holder, unless there are other conditions (like selling the idea).

There are specific steps to follow for getting patents on your invention in the United States. It is important that you follow them to the letter so that you don't get rejected.

The very first thing you need to do is make sure that your design or invention doesn't already exist. This happens more often than you would imagine, with two or more inventors coming up with the same idea, completely uninfluenced by each other. So do some research to start out with?

You will also need to prove that you invented the design. Any paperwork or other documentation that you have on the process should be kept for later use.

The last step is that you must file a patents application. This can be done at the U.S. Patents and Trademark Office in your area, or sometimes, online, depending on what type you wish to file. There are several different applications, depending on what you are trying to file.

- Utility patents: for the invention of a useful machine, composition, process or a new and practical improvement of one of these. This could include a new type of coffee maker, for example.

- Design Patents: this is if you have created an original design object to adorn a manufactured object, such as a T-shirt.

- Plant Patents: for gardeners and plant engineers who have designed and bred a new form of plant. This also applies if you discover a previously unknown plant, for example, while hiking in the Amazon.

To file the patents for your invention, there are a few things that you need. You will have to write out a specification sheet for your product. This is a written description of the invention using very specific language, and laying out the novelties of the design, what makes it different from already existing items.

An illustration is also necessary where possible. It should be a technical drawing, showing details of all working parts.

The last thing you need is the filing fee, which varies from $310 depending on the types of patents you are filing for. There are also additional fees upon certification as well as maintenance fees every few years after you have filed.

Once you have filed and been accepted for your patents, you have exclusive rights for the duration of the certified time. This allows you to stop other people from ripping off your ideas.