Patent Applications

Is a Power of Attorney required to pay a maintenance fee? If a new patent attorney or law firm plans to pay the maintenance fee…

Can an Assignee also be identified as an Applicant in a US national phase application? Yes, if the earliest filing date of the US national…

Can inventions be publicly disclosed prior to filing a US patent application? The US patent system is different from the patent laws of most foreign…

Is there such a thing as a patent renewal? Sort of. Instead of patent renewals, they are called maintenance fees. Maintenance fees apply only to…

What are the differences between provisional and nonprovisional patent applications? A nonprovisional patent application is normally considered the regular utility patent application. It is what…

What makes an idea patentable? If you have specific examples of how your idea would actually work, then your concept might be patentable if it…

PCT Application: The Gateway to Obtaining Foreign Utility Patents Are you considering foreign utility patent protection? A Patent Cooperation Treaty application is a single utility…

Is a utility patent right for you? A utility patent covers how an invention works. Unlike a design patent which covers how a product looks,…

Why not file a design patent application? If you are in the business of innovation, you can’t ignore design patents. And if you’re going to…

Is there only one way to get international patent rights? No, there are multiple routes to obtain foreign utility patents. While there is no such…

What is the difference between patentable and infringing? Can a new product be both patentable and infringing? Would a patent protect you from infringement? One…