Want To File For A Patent? 3 Common Questions For Your Lawyer

Do you have a great idea that you want to file but are not sure what the next steps are? You'll want to work with a patent lawyer to get the necessary legal documents files to start the patent process. Here are some questions you may want to ask your patent lawyer.

Do You Need A Design Patent?

Two different types of patents that you may need to file are a design patent and a utility patent. A utility patent is going to be for the actual idea that you have created. However, you may also need a design patent as well. This could be necessary if there is a product that is going to be very similar to yours, and a design is what helps differentiate them.

A great example of this is a basic soda bottle. The contents of the bottle are very different between the beverages, but the design of the bottle is what helps differentiate the products to the consumer. If you've come up with a new type of beverage that you are looking to patent the recipe, you may also need to patent the design of the unique packaging that it comes in. 

Is Your Invention Just An Idea?

A common problem that people come up with is having a simple idea and wanting to patent it. The problem with this is that you can't patent an idea. Whatever your idea may be, a patent may only be applied if you have a specific idea as to how to make it. 

Think about the differences between roller skates and rollerblades. Each one has the concept of essentially putting wheels on shoes, but both do it in different ways. You can't patent the ideas of wheels on shoes since you need a specific way to do it that makes it different. This allows a company like Heelys to come along and patent their unique way of adding wheels to the base of a tennis shoe to make it different from existing patents. Without the way to implement your idea, it cannot be patented.

Do You Need To Build A Prototype?

If you have the idea and the physical way to create the idea, you may be wondering if you need a physical prototype of the idea in order to file a patent. This is not true at all. As long as you have the idea in a form that you can be used to build it, a prototype will not be necessary.

Reach out to a patent lawyer for more information. 


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