Is your innovation patentable? Here is how to find out

Innovative ideas are precious, but no matter how clever your idea is, you cannot afford to ignore the legal implications of your inventions. Competitors could rip off an invention that is not patented, and if your business depends on it, that could be devastating to your bottom line.

However, many entrepreneurs do not realize that simply having an idea for something does not make it patentable. Before registering your ideas with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and legally protecting your innovation with a patent, you must fulfill some requirements.

What is a patent?

A patent is an intellectual property that protects an invention from being used by another person other than the owner. In other words, patents give inventors exclusive rights to their creations for a given period.

It gives an inventor the right to exclude others from selling, making, using, importing, or offering the product for sale. Venture capitalists like Scott Sandell believe in patenting and protecting intellectual property, as these innovations will have powerful economic consequences.

As a venture capitalist, Sandell understands how important it is to invest in ideas with long-term benefits. Being part of a future generation, Scott Sandell's daughter may benefit from his advice and initiatives on protecting innovation with patents.

What are the different types of patents?

Patents are the lifeblood of many successful products and services, giving their inventors the power to enforce their rights and collect royalties on their work. Here is an overview of the types of patents and how they may be helpful to you as you work on your invention:

Utility patents

The term utility refers to how an invention is used or applied in society — it does not refer to whether a design works well. Utility patents are often considered to be the most powerful type of patent. These patents cover new, non-obvious, functional inventions that are not a part of the machine.

Design patents

Design patents are issued to purely ornamental inventions, such as clothing or jewelry. A design patent protects only the specific way an object looks, not how it works.

With a design patent, you cannot stop anyone from making something similar in appearance to your invention, but they cannot copy your exact design.

Plant patents

A plant patent is a form of intellectual property protection available to science inventors.

This patent provides the owner with exclusive rights to a new variety's propagating material, harvested products, or vegetative parts.

The inventor cannot control what others do with the plant, but if someone does anything that infringes on their patent, they can sue for damages.

Requirements for an innovation to be patentable

Do you have an innovative idea that could revolutionize an industry? An innovation must meet specific requirements to be granted protection under patent laws.

These requirements differ depending on whether the patent is sought in the United States or another country. Still, there are major requirements for an innovation to be patentable.

The invention must satisfy novelty

An innovation must satisfy novelty to qualify as patentable. This generally means that the invention is new and was not in public use or on sale more than a year before the patent application's filing date.

You may also obtain patents on inventions that are improvements of inventions patented previously. However, these improvements must not have been publicly disclosed anywhere in the world before being patented.

It must not be obvious

An innovation is patentable if it is not obvious. You cannot patent something so evident that anyone with basic knowledge in the area would come up with it on their own.

This means you cannot take something that already exists and add one or two features to get a patent. If your invention appears too similar to other innovations, it will not be eligible for a patent either.

However, if someone else comes up with a similar idea independently of you and applies for a patent first, this could serve as prior art against your application.

Your invention must have industrial applicability

Your invention must also have industrial applicability to be patentable. For the invention to have industrial applicability, it must fall within one of the following categories: process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter.

A patent cannot be granted for inventions that are unpatentable subject matter.

It is important to remember that there is no such thing as a self-evident invention since it would not require a patent application to secure protection under copyright laws.

Final thoughts

An innovation is patentable if it is novel, non-obvious, and useful. You will need to file a patent application with the USPTO to get a patent.

This invention should be yours or created by another person who authorized you to use their name as a co-inventor. The different types of patents ensure single disclosure of inventions — hence only inventors get credit.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.