Your Thoughts, Your Property
/We can all agree that we want our property to be secure. Burglaries, muggings, & threats from strangers are the things we logically try to avoid when carrying out our day-to-day lives. Similarly, we may fear that our work gets accredited to someone else and we do what we can to be recognized for our endeavors when its due. In this respect, security does not relate to just our physical assets; it also pertains to our personal contributions.
In today’s technological market, this has never been more true & intellectual property has never been more valuable. But things like ideas are intangible. So how do you protect a non-physical asset from being taken?
Through a Patent.
A patent can provide you with sole ownership of an invention for a defined period of time—be it a particular process, utility, design, or genetically modified product. During that period, other people are prevented the legal right to make, use, or sell the represented invention. By recognizing and protecting the rights of the individual in this respect, you are provided the recognition of your labor and can reap the resulting fruits.
Since ideas are non-physical in nature, strict criteria have been implemented to ensure unambiguity & to protect a potentially contentious idea from being subject to exploitation or piracy.
Step 1: Define It
Before determining if an “idea” is patentable, we must first identify the four statutory classes of a patent:
- Machine
- Process
- Article of manufacture
- Composition of matter.
A patent must fall into one of these classifications, else it can't be legally protected. With that in mind, an idea that's excessively obvious or inherent with nature is prevented sole ownership to any one person, and instead granted public access and utility.
For example, Math equations and many algorithms are freely used by the public since they've been identified as mechanisms of nature.
So you may be wondering, why then are some plants or other things from nature sometimes an exception. Recent technologies have enabled the human manipulation of chemical and genetic structures. As a result, these “plants” or chemical compounds are engineered to as a useful product unattainable by nature itself. The ultimate goal of any patent is to recognize such ingenuity. This is sometimes nuanced.
Step 2: Draft It
The structural criteria for patents have been refined over time, to better articulate people's inventions.
Every patent is comprised of a:
- Cover Page
- “Specification” Section
- “Claims” Section.
The specifications section provides a comprehensive, logistical understanding for how the idea should be defined. This can be seen as the necessary background & context for conveying your product to someone who may be unfamiliar.
That being said, defining your product through your specifications only lays the foundation for what is actually being claimed. A designated claims section is reserved for explicitly claiming ownership to concepts, ideas, etc. For this reason, you can say the “claims” section is the true backbone of a patent application.
The claims section specifies what the patentee seeks to assert ownership over. It details the process, means, and end result of the invention. Each element of the product is identified, as well its relationship to other elements that comprise the patent.
Flowcharts can be drafted to help clarify concepts for the reader, which may otherwise be difficult to visualize. More importantly, visuals can prove as a safeguard against future infringement.
The reason lawsuits often result can be attributed to assumptions and weaknesses in the stated claims. To mitigate the onset of such lawsuits, common practice implores starting with broad, independent claims and then accompanying more granular, dependent claims. The “claims” section is undoubtedly the most meticulously written portion of any patent application. It is, afterallm what defines the patent itself.
Step 3: Apply
Applying for a patent starts with an application form from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The application is considered pending until approved by the patent office.
Anyone can patent a novel idea.
Before approval, the office checks for potential conflicts with preexisting patents. The respective patent will be approved only once it's found to be entirely unique and free of discrepancies. Understandably, some get rejected if conflicts exist.
Many times these rejections are avoidable by properly completing documentation the first time. Patent attorneys are necessary for this reason; they ensure these intricacies are accounted for.
Pulling it All Together
The patent has transformed how we define property. Property now includes more than just what we touch. Today it also applies to our ideas and creativity. It is by securing our works through patents, that we can go on to prosper commercially, unchallenged. With the new wave of technology and the flourishing creativity we are seeing in today's world, legal protection for intellectual property will continue to strengthen, grow, and diversify.