do you know that a little innocent post
on social media could get you in a whole
host of trouble and in fact invalidate
your ability to get a patent
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and welcome to how they get a patent on
your idea I'm JD Hoover and I'm the CEO
and principal here at bolt Patten's law
firm I'm gonna be here today talking
about what it means to get a patent on
an idea and some of the nuances all the
way along the track got an O right out
of the gate that when I say idea it kind
of pains me a little bit because I know
that ideas well certainly valuable and I
mean I talk about bold ideas right in my
book
ideas are by nature dime-a-dozen
okay everybody's got ideas fun cool big
small but what does it mean to actually
bring an idea to an invention okay so
the major difference is that invention
is something you've really thought about
you've thought through well enough to
where you could describe it right how to
make it and how to bring it about just
in paper right on paper through drawings
someone else could take what you've
wrote and go build them okay that's an
invention we work with inventors at bold
patents we wants you to move from idea
to invention with us and with our help
one thing I gotta mention up front too
is that ideas sometimes can get carried
away right these are big ideas where
you're thinking about what how could I
improve and the often times comes with
some barriers right cost issues maybe
government's got regulations blocking
the situation something you have to know
is that there's no requirement to build
a prototype okay don't think you have to
spend you know ten or even hundred
thousand dollars building your prototype
if it's if the idea is that big
if you've simply got a bill to
articulate through words and drawings to
move your idea from that phase to an
invention is your patent eligible do you
fit into one of the four patent areas is
it patentable do you have a machine
do you have a process you have an
assembly or do you have a composition of
matter if you fit into one of those
categories your patent-eligible and you
can move forward if you have any
questions about what it means what those
categories mean and want more
information about whether your specific
invention is eligible I encourage you to
visit our website bold IP comm we've got
lots of free resources there for you
someone who's just getting started where
some of these may be inventing their
second project who wants a little more
advanced information we've got that for
you too and I want to show you really
quickly in the book I wrote just a year
and a half ago bold ideas the inventors
guide to patents this has got all the
essentials that you need to help
understand what's the difference between
a patent and a trade secret patent in a
trade work this is it grab your free
copy downloadable PDF version on our
website at bold IP comm today after you
figured out whether your invention is
eligible or not the next step is okay
which inventors should i indicate okay
this sort of can be sort of coming out
of left field but if you're not the only
inventor you're actually obligated to
include all the inventors in the
application so when does someone
actually become an inventor a great
question
generally an inventor is someone that's
added to the conceptual idea right
there's a foundational principle some
people get confused and think that
someone who manufactures a product or
helped with the prototype is part of the
it should be listed as an inventor and
that's not true right someone can be the
architect the designer known as the
inventor and says if I please make this
per this plan the person that makes it
sure whether well in their craft and
good at their skill they didn't actually
invent and come up with any aspects of
it so if you have any more questions
about an inventor ship again please give
us a contact and if you're getting good
and value of this video we'd love to get
this out to as many inventors as
possible so please give us a like or
thumbs up share this video with someone
you know that could really use this
information we want to go to help all
inventors reach their visionary dream
all right so once you've kind of
identified who the inventors are its
next important to understand the
ownership so sometimes yeah employees
are also inventors right you've got day
jobs and so it's something to really
make sure you're clear about is that if
you want to own this invention on your
own you've got to do so on your own time
and then includes using your own
resources so if you're using a computer
using a you know a 3d printer if you're
using some sort of CAD system you've got
to understand your own resources need to
be used and it can't be related to the
job you have so another deep dive
inquiry if there's sort of a gray area
maybe you were on the clock maybe you're
even assigned to a project and it's
related to what you're trying to seek
patent action for get with us right away
if we need to make sure it's clear who's
gonna own this thing the last thing we
want to do is end up taking your money
and have the patent owned by your by
your business okay all right so after
inventor ship and owners have cleared
the way to get a patent is to make sure
you're gonna be clear about what your
goals are your goals business goals to
you know own this thing long term and to
have a business created around it and to
make this a really long lasting business
or is it your goal to really just
license and sell it and get it done if
it's the latter you'll want to work
directly with us as patent attorneys and
just get your your patent packaged up so
that it's most lucrative most valuable
to someone looking to license and
selling if your goal is to start a new
business I mean good on you right that's
how this this country was founded
that is what entrepreneurs are all about
you love serving them but know that we
are just a part of the professional
sphere of the people you need to get
ahold of to make this dream happen so we
do our best to refer you to the people
that we have trusted over the years to
help our clients out succeed in business
so let us know upfront work with an
attorney to make sure they're clear
about what your goals are so you're
gonna get referrals to the people that
you need to get help with down the road
so the next thing that take a look at
and this goes back to my social media
question right at the beginning is okay
if you've if you've talked about your
invention and shared your invention
there is a 1-year statutory rule right
when your that's 12 months if you have
disclosed your invention online right
talked about what your invention has
showed a video about what your invention
does to get feedback
put it up on Kickstarter or even sold
your invention which includes even
making an offer for sale more than a
year ago you are ineligible for patent
protection okay I know that's tough to
hear so there are some workarounds okay
so if you are under that category where
you've actually disclosed your invention
more than a year ago it could be right
it could be that you've invented you
made some improvements on your invention
since you post that so you could get
protection over just those improvements
and we could certainly talk about that
at a free consultation with one of our
advisors and move forward to help you
with getting in touch with a patent
attorney today all right so the next
thing to think about is the patent
ability okay so as you get down this
path you've explored eligibility and
inventor ship ownership now you're past
the statutory bars you're not gonna be
barred if you haven't disclosed your
subject matter you're not at issue there
now is your invention patentable you
have to show three things
okay novelty non-obviousness and has to
have utility those are the three
Biggie's so without those three you
can't move forward novelty just means
has to be new new in the world it has to
be non-obvious
you know not a obvious version of
another prior art that's already out
there prior art is just a fancy word for
any reference technical or otherwise
patent document or non patent document
that's talked about the industry talked
about your type of technology if it's
out there in the market the examiner
will find it that's what you've got to
know up front is if you've got an
obvious iteration or something that's
already been done before utility means
you have to show that there's some
benefit some entertainment value even
some financial benefit some economic
benefit
mechanical leverage and so on those are
all great utilities to show alright so
the second piece of whether you move
forward or not
is looking one at patentability but the
other one is marketability
don't forget your end goal should be to
make money and to be successful in
business so not only we want to look at
hey can we get you a patent on this but
will this succeed in the market so
you've got to take a look at both of
those pieces as a business owner as an
inventor moving forward to make a sound
business decision now we're at the phase
of being able to prepare your
application for filing you've got all
this work behind you working with your
patent attorney how do you move to the
next stage you've got to put together
the written description it's also called
a specification the spec talks about
every single part of your invention and
how it is coming together right the how
the details
this explains through words how to build
it how it functions what the inputs and
outputs are and in the end we'll provide
the basis for what you're claiming is
yours and what you invent so when you
submit the written description the
claims and the drawings of the Patent
Office you do so most effectively by
electronically filing it the electronic
submittal will actually save you some
money the USPTO has done a lot lately to
help move things in the right direction
and moving toward a paperless
environment well there's one final thing
to think about when you file your
application in the u.s. is a not be
short-sighted think big right
so think about international protection
get with your patent attorney to think
about what it might take to get your hat
and filed in other countries there's a
fantastic mechanism called the patent
cooperation treaty PCT that's what allow
you to file in as many countries as you
want and it'll also give you time up to
a year and a half to decide when to file
in which country stay tuned for more we
got a separate video on the patent
cooperation treaty coming up it's been
so fun talking with you here today about
how to get a patent what the
fundamentals are all the way through in
this
step process if you have any questions
at all we'd love to feel those questions
give us a thumbs up like and share this
video with anyone you might know and
again I'm JD Hoover nerd the CEO and
Managing Partner of both patents so my
pleasure talking with you here today go
big go bowl
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