Patent your invention

Prior to the creation of the U.S. Patent Office, in the mid 18th century, society had a problem; inventors weren't disclosing their ideas. This meant that things weren't advancing as quickly as they should. The Patent Office offered a simple solution: An inventor discloses his idea publicly and is given a 20 year monopoly on the idea. This instantly leveled the playing field. The little guy could do business with the big corporation. The most common use of Patents, still to this day, is for negotiating royalties with other companies.

The various forms of Patent Protection include:

Provisional Patent Application (Informal Application, United States):
A temporary, one year, simplified patent application, which allows the applicant to claim a date of filing and patent pending status.

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This patent application is used when the technology is still under development or in a case where short term funding is a concern. The Provisional Patent Application is in effect for one year from the filing date. A Utility Patent Application (Formal Application) would have to be applied for within the one-year limit or the right to Patent the item would be lost.

Utility Patent Application (Formal Application):
An application for a 20-year Patent, which protects the function, method or use of an item. This is the most common form of patent protection for technologies, products and methods.

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Innovative Licensing & Promotion, Inc. normally files the Utility Application in Canada and the United States simultaneously. The applicant then has one year in which to decide upon a PCT (Paris Convention Treaty) Application (see below).

PCT Patent (Paris Convention Treaty) Application:
A world wide Patent Application which streamlines the process of filing a Patent in up to 128 countries.

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The PCT Application allows the applicant an additional 18 months (approximately) to decide and prepare for the filing in other countries. Each individual country and the European community have varying costs specific to each filing thereafter. While the PCT patent can be filed instead of a Utility or Provisional Application, it is normally filed within a year after one of these.

Design Patent:
Design Patent simply protect the ornamental or esthetic appeal of an item. Often used for decorative furniture, French doors or vases etc.

Innovative's Patent Council Mr. Richard Okimaw is a mechanical engineer, lawyer and a registered Patent and Trade-mark Agent who practices primarily in the area of intellectual property law. Prior to joining Innovative, Rick worked with one of Western Canada's largest intellectual property law firms. Richard completed his mechanical engineering degree at UBC and his law degree at the University of Toronto. Prior to studying law, Rick worked as a mechanical engineer for several years in the fields of HVAC, manufacturing, construction and noise suppression of industrial processes.