What is Invention? How to File and protect it?
What is an Invention?
An invention is a new solution to the technical problems and it can be protected through the patents. Patents protect the interests of inventors whose technologies are innovative and commercially successful.
An inventor can also use “patent pending” on the products and all the other type of marketing materials once the patent application is filed. At present, there are more than 7 million United States patents issued to the inventors. Without a patent anyone can make and sell your invention without your permission and without the tension of any compensation.
How to File Provisional Patent Application?
If your invention has qualified for a patent, it is worth to file a provisional patent application and obtain a patent pending status. This will stop the infringers because they will come to know that you seriously want to protect your legal rights.
Most of the times, the receiving party cannot breach the confidential relationship or induce others to breach it or induce others to acquire the confidential information by legal and proper means. In a majority of cases, companies accept these obligations without the prior discussions.
Disclosing Without an Agreement:
It is always the safest way to get a prospective licensee to endorse the non-disclosure agreement. However, it is not always the safest option to get a prospective licensee sign a non-disc;losure agreement. You would also not be able to convince the person or a company to do that.
You are left in a vulnerable position. If you decide to expose the crucial information without an agreement, you would risk losing your rights to the invention. If you do not disclose it there is another problem that you would lose a business opportunity.
The most important thing to consider is the market reputation of the company or the person. If the company does not have a good reputation then you are at a greater risk of losing a business opportunity.
To protect invention, there are two common strategies that are employed by the inventors, professionals and amateurs. First of all, you need to file a provisional patent application (If the invention is patentable). You can also use a nondisclosure agreement irrespective of the fact that it is patentable or not.
You can be caught in a situation where you develop a market invention and get caught in a dilemma. If you want to make money from the invention, you must license the invention to another business who is often a manufacturer or a distributor that invest in mass production, in advertising or in selling. So, do not risk your invention and get it protected by the professional attorneys. A lot of people are wondering how to protect the patent.