A Brief Overview of a U.S. Patent Application

There are many hurdles involved with gaining aLet's say an inventor invents a new type of ink
patent. If you are interested in gaining one, yourpen and begins writing his patent application. He will
first task is to file a patent application, completeneed to write specific claims regarding the exact
with all the bells and whistles required by thefeatures of the ink pen that he considers his
United States Patent and Trademark Office.invention. For example, his claims will define
There are a number of standard forms to fill outwhether the invention is only the ink cartridge or
in addition to quite a bit of writing.the entire pen. If his invention only encompasses
A single application will vary in complexity andthe ink cartridge, his claims will need to outline
length. An application might range from about 25whether the ink, the cartridge or both are being
pages up to thousands. In 1991, the Nationalclaimed. If only the cartridge is being claimed, then
Institute of Health tried to patent practically thehe will need to write claims directed toward the
entire human brain, or at least 2,600 DNAcartridge. The claims will describe exactly what is
sequences of it in an enormous patent applicationspecial about the ink cartridge and what makes it
which was ultimately declined.different from other ink cartridges.
One of the most important and involved sectionsThe claims are important because they clearly set
of a patent application is the specification. Thethe boundaries for the invention. The claims will
specification specifies exactly what has beenhelp the examiner decide if the invention warrants
invented and thus, what the patent will cover ifa patent based upon whether or not the invention
the application is granted.really is new and patentable. In addition, if a patent
There is usually a great deal of backgroundis in fact granted for the ink cartridge and later
information involved with a specification. Think ofon, a company begins manufacturing the same ink
it as a report, one that relays all the backgroundcartridge without authorization from the applicant
information related to the invented subjectowner, an infringement case may ensue. In this
matter. You (or preferably someone you hire) willinstance, the claims will help the courts decide
need to scour all the available references to makewhether or not infringement of the patent
the background as complete as possible. Fromactually occurred.
existing patents to magazine articles and evenWe've just scratched the surface of the makings
dissertations to formal presentations, everythingof a patent application. There is much more to
that is available must be checked and if foundapplying for a patent application than this and
relevant, woven it into your application. The moreseveral other components. In fact, there are a
research done, the better.few different patent application types to choose
At the end of the specification is a section knownfrom before you even get started. In addition,
as the claims. The claims explicitly outline what isyou need to pay attention to all sorts of details,
being patented. They are used to define thesuch as how you mail in your application and the
scope of an invention. Here is an example to helpexact forms you send in with it.
you better understand the claims.