Invention Submission

Invention submissions protect the vital ideas of a business with patents. If you don't put up the shield of protection, then the vultures will come and gobble up the life blood of your company.  

Filing a patent is the best way to protect your invention. It is not enough to simply keep your invention a secret and hope that no one will steal it. You need to file a patent application before you publish anything or talk about it with anyone, including potential investors.

There are two different types of patents: utility and design. Utility patents protect inventions that are used in industry, such as machines, processes, and compositions of matter. Design patents protect the appearance of an object, such as the shape or decoration of a product.

You might ask what inventions and patents have to do with business analysis. An awful lot! You need to analyze what things are going on in your business that should be patented. That is a smaller number than could be patented. You are looking for those ideas and procedures that would damage your business if a competitor were to get hold of them. They are the ones that qualify for being called inventions.

Business analysis is the process of studying and understanding a business in order to assess its value or make a recommendation. Business analysts need to have a background in management, economics, finance and/or engineering to understand the intricacies of any given business. The intricacies of a business are often the thing that gives a business an edge over its competition. That edge needs to be patented in order to keep that competitive edge.

The Invention Submission Process

The invention submission process can be a long one. It needs to be done in the right order, and it is important to keep track of all the steps. However, if you are able to follow these 4 steps, you will have a patent on your hands in no time!

There are 4 main steps to getting a patent:

1. Analyze what needs to patented.  
2. Once the patent is analyzed, the inventor must perform a patent search to see if someone else has already patented that same idea or product.
3. Write the patent.
4. Submit and secure patent from government.

Some of these steps required to make your invention submission, you can do yourself. You have to decide if it is worth hiring a patent attorney as the cost can range between $1,000 to $15,000 (depending on the scope and complexity of the patent).  

Pros And Cons Of Making
The Invention Submission Yourself

Pros

1. You know your business better than anyone, so you will know what ideas and processes are vital. No cost.
   
   
2. There are free facilities for doing patent searches on the internet. No cost.
   
   
3. Write the invention patent yourself. If you are good at writing, you may well be able to write adequate descriptions for your invention. You may even be able to develop drawings. The hard part will be writing claims that will hold up in court. Low or no Cost.
   
   
4. When the patent is finished it must be submitted to the government patent office. There are fees that must be paid with the submittal. Low cost.

Cons

1. It is often difficult to decide what is patentable without some professional guidance.
   
   
2. The free facilities are often difficult to use. The tools available in a patent attorney's office are more comprehensive. A patent search done in a patent office will likely be more complete. It will also come with an opinion of whether your invention is patentable or not.
   
   
3. You will need to have a good professional approach to have the invention patent appear serious. If the claims are not correctly written they will never hold up in court.
   
   
4. If the government patent office finds a problem with your invention patent submission, they will reject the patent application. There will be a deadline for submitting corrections. If the rejection comes at a bad time and the deadline is not met, then the patent application will be abandoned. Then you must resubmit your invention patent from scratch.

The Links

Steps For Getting A Patent - All the steps for getting a patent and working with a patent invention attorney.

US Patent Search - Find out if your invention idea is really patentable.

Invention Idea Patent - The barriers to getting a successful patent are explored.

Obtaining A Patent In The US - More about the process that protects your invention from the vultures.  

How Long Is A Patent Good For - The factors that effect the life of a patent in the USA.

Summary

It's your idea, your baby. If it is a good idea, then there are those that will be more than happy to steal it from you. If you are going to protect your baby from the world, you must get an invention patent on your idea.