Maybe.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) grants patents to inventions every day. Not every application succeeds in becoming a granted patent, though. Important requirements must be met in order for an invention to be patented.

Novelty: An invention or one very similar to it must already be patented, described in someone else’s patent or patent application, described in a printed publication, on sale, or in public use before the application date (with some exceptions granting the inventor a grace period of one year prior to the application date).

Usefulness: This is a low bar to meet, fortunately. It doesn’t mean the invention has to provide some important use. It generally means that it has to work and not be completely pointless.

Nonobviousness: This means it can’t be an obvious step of innovation to take to improve already existing inventions to someone who works in the field in which the invention is made.

A patentability search done by a patent attorney is designed to search key sources to help determine whether there are already patents, applications, or other public uses of an identical or similar invention that could pose patentability problems for your invention because they show your invention is too similar to other inventions, has been disclosed to the public too much, or is likely to be considered an obvious invention in the field.

King Business and Patent Law can help with all your patent application needs.

The post Can You Patent Your Idea? appeared first on King Business and Patent Law.