A Guide to Protecting Your Intellectual Property With a Patent

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If you are concerned about safeguarding a new product idea or an adaptation you have devised for an existing item that substantially modifies its use, you might want to talk to an intellectual property attorney about obtaining a patent. Typically, getting a patent is the best way to safeguard an idea or creation, but you may find that in some cases, it is better to delay filing for patent protection. When you are unsure as to how you should protect your interests and preserve the originality of your concept or creation, the following information about patents will be quite useful.

Understanding Patent Protection

Patent protection is available for both new ideas and products that feature those ideas. In addition, if you have an idea or product that uses an existing product in a new and exciting way, you may also be able to patent it under your own name. Design patents exist for new concepts and utility patents should be used when you have created a new machine, product or mechanical technique. Since intellectual property can be defined as mental creations or ideas that have not necessarily taken physical form, protecting your rights to them can be challenging.

Understanding When to File for a Patent

If you have a new idea for modifying an existing item that changes the way it is used or provides extra benefits to the user, you should file for your patent. However, the type of product you are working with can impact your timing for doing so. For instance, developing electronic items tends to take a long time. Since patents expire, it might be best to file your patent for an improved or modified item or idea near the time that the existing patent runs out. 

By doing so, you are protecting your item for an extended period of time and you are similarly preventing other inventors from making minor changes to your item and attempting to claim it as their own. In addition, when you file for your patent, you should plan to answer many questions about it in order to further verify that yours was an original concept, idea, etc.  

Intellectual property can include a wide variety of products, services, ideas, and adaptations to those items. As a result, you should be familiar with the information shared above and speak with an attorney like those at the Joseph E Mueth Law Office who specializes in intellectual property to be sure that you can protect your original work and concepts.     


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