Patent Law
Allgaier Patent Solutions is a premier law firm that is committed to providing our clients with a high level of legal representation and service. We handle complex patent matters throughout the United States and have extensive experience preparing patent applications in various fields and technologies. Our expertise allows us to assist individual inventors, small and mid-sized companies, universities, secular and non-secular institutions and governmental organizations.
Types of Patent Applications
A non-provisional (utility) patent application is a regular patent application, which is made to the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Utility patents may be granted to “anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof.”
A provisional patent application is a U.S. national application for patent filed under 35 U.S.C. section 111(b). It is filed without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any information disclosure statement. The term “Patent Pending” can also be used in the description of the invention. A provisional patent application has a 12-month pendency period that cannot be extended. An applicant who files a provisional application must file a corresponding non-provisional application for patent during the pendency of the provisional application in order to receive the benefit of the filing date of the provisional application.
A design patent application is an application for a patent to protect against unauthorized use of new, original, and ornamental designs for articles of manufacture. Since a design is manifested in appearance, the subject matter of a design patent application may relate to the configuration or shape of an article, to the surface ornamentation applied to an article, or to the combination of configuration and surface ornamentation. A design patent protects only the appearance of the article and not structural or utilitarian features. A design and a utility patent may be obtained on an article if invention resides both in its utility and ornamental appearance. While utility design patents afford legally separate protection, the utility and ornamentality of an article are not easily separable.
A Plant Patent is granted to “anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.” The patent grant protects the inventor’s right to exclude others from asexually reproducing, selling, or using the plant so reproduced. The United States Code also provides additional provisions and limitations to the patentability of plants.
Important Terms
A patent for an invention, which is granted by the United States Patent Trademark Office, is the grant of a property right.
A patent application includes all types of patent applications including utility, design, plant and reissues. It is filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office with a request to grant a patent based on the examination of the specification, claims and drawings (if necessary).
A design patent is granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.
Publication of a patent application is a requirement under the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 for most plant and utility patents filed on or after November 29, 2000.
Patent prosecution is the process of “negotiating” or “arguing” with a patent office for the grant of a patent, and interaction with a patent office with regard to a patent after its grant.
Patent prosecution is distinct from patent litigation, which relates to legal proceedings for infringement of a patent after it is granted.
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