Are you confused about what a patent is and whether you should get one? This is a primer for beginning inventors that answers your most commonly asked questions.
1) What is a patent?
A patent is a form of intellectual property which rewards persons whom invent a new and non-obvious:
process or method;
machine;
article of manufacture; or
composition of matter.
In return for completely disclosing the invention including how to practice the invention, a legal monopoly on the invention is granted to the inventor(s) for a specific period of time.
That legal monopoly is the right for the inventor(s) to exclude other persons and businesses from:
making;
using;
offering for sale or selling; or
importing;
the invention in the United States.
2) What is "patent pending"?
Once a patent application is prepared and filed and prior to issuance of a patent, the invention can be marked "patent pending" or "patent applied for".
While these have no legal significance and grant the inventor(s) no legal rights, the designation tends to discourage other persons or businesses from copying the invention since a patent might issue on the invention granting the legal monopoly to the inventor(s).
3) Are there different types of patents?
There are two types of patents that are typically of interest to inventors, design patents and utility patents.
A design patent protects the "aesthetics" or the "appearance" of the invention and is a much more limited legal monopoly than utility patents which protect the "function" of the invention.
Therefore, utility patents are desirable over design patents where possible, though an invention can be protected by both design and utility patents.
4) How long do patents provide legal protection for the inventor?
The period of time for which the legal monopoly is granted for a utility patent is
20 years from the filing date of a utility patent application, however, the legal rights do not begin until the patent issues.
The period of time for which the legal monopoly is granted for a design patent is 14 years from the issue date.
5) What are maintenance fees?
Utility patents require the payment of maintenance fees 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years following issuance to maintain the patent in force. Design patents require no maintenance fees to maintain the patent in force.
6) Should I keep my invention secret?
The inventor(s) should be careful to maintain their invention secret until the advice of a competent licensed patent attorney or patent agent is sought.
That is because many foreign countries in which the inventor(s) might decide to seek patent protection there is an "absolute novelty" requirement.
This means that if the invention is "publicly disclosed" (i.e. disclosed to people in a non-confidential manner) prior to the "effective filing date" in that country, then the validity of any patent which would potentially issue on the invention in that country could be challenged later.
7) What is the International Treaty, also called the Paris Convention?
Many countries are members of the International Treaty, also called the Paris Convention.
These countries allow inventor(s) to claim priority based on the filing date of the first filed patent application in a member country, provided a patent application is filed in the member country within 1 year of such first filed patent application (within 6 months for design patent applications).
The United States is a member of the International Convention so as to grant such priority based on a foreign patent application.
8) Are there time limits in which to file a patent application at the U.S. Patent Office?
The inventor(s) must file a United States Patent Application within 1 year (if patent protection is desired in the United States) of the earlier of:
making an offer to sell the invention (even if the offer is not accepted and
sometimes even when the invention is not yet manufactured or otherwise
available);
use of the invention in public (e.g. using the invention at work or in public
on the street corner); or
or putting the invention in a printed publication which is circulated (e.g. a
sales brochure, catalog, or a web site).
These are called "statutory bars" and if the year period expires without filing the United States Patent Application, the inventor(s) are not permitted to file a patent application in the United States.
Foreign priority (discussed above) or the priority of a provisional patent application (discussed below) can be used to predate the expiration of the 1 year period if applicable.
9) What is a provisional patent application?
A provisional patent application can be filed in the United States which provides a disclosure (description) of the invention, but which does not have the formal requirements of a utility patent application.
Priority can be claimed for a utility patent application (but not a design patent application) and foreign patent applications in countries which are members of the International Convention if filed within 1 year of the filing date of the provisional patent application.
The bottom line, timely consult a competent patent attorney or patent agent to discuss the details of protecting your invention!
I founded InventionPatenting.com in 1999 to educate and assist independent inventors and small businesses in protecting and marketing their inventions.
Download your FREE "Independent Inventor's Kit 2007" that contains the information you need to protect and make money from your invention at:
http://www.InventionPatenting.com
If you have any questions or need assistance in patenting or marketing your invention, feel free to contact me through my website or sign up for a FREE no obligation telephone consultation at:
http://www.InventionPatenting.com/consultation.html
I now offer for a LIMITED TIME filing a Provisional Patent Application for only $147.00 (plus the $100.00 government filing fee and $9.97 shipping and handling). You can sign up at:
http://www.InventionPatenting.com/file_a_provisional_patent_application.html
Best regards,
Brian R. Rayve, Esq.
Owner, InventionPatenting.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Rayve
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Man The God In Ruin
Human qualities of natural beauty, love, virtue and spirituality are mostly interdependent within the physical health. The ancient Greeks knew this well, when they were deifying athletics and hygiene as the bridge to beauty, strength and divinity. They dedicated their athletic games to Olympic Gods, Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon and Athena in order to signify their value as a sacrament. “Virtue and love said Plato, are both a kind of health” while hate, envy, fear and jealousy are the by- products of disease. Disease of stomach and liver, for instance, can easily alter the entire human character, by disabling the solar plexus (or the emotional brain) from its natural function. When such a mighty solar gland is out of order, peace, virtue and love are dethroned from their natural function, while worry, fear and insecurity sets in.
Fear and love are opposed to one another, when the one sets in, the other has departed. We never see a loving person to fear or the fearing one to love. Pure love is celestial power and fear for the divinity is an unthinkable issue. The same applies to spirituality; Spirit is a divine current which flows freely in us, if our physical and mental health permits it. “A dormant faculty in the brain; a dead fibre in the body; a thought of failure in the mind; a feeling of constraint in the heart; a stoppage any where, however so slight will make a man less spiritual by so much’’ said the wise thinker ‘E. Purinton’. Climate also plays an important role in the harmonious function of the body, mind and soul. “Where there is dry light the soul is wisest and best” Says Heraclitus.
Nietzsche observed the same in his little book “Ecce homo”, “selective regimen and dry climate with clear skies, are vital for a good metabolism and spiritual growth, he said. Wisdom is an unfolding evolution or a spiritual journey; no specific school or foreign assistance is necessary for this trip, save the guiding of the individual instinct; So long as we keep our inner rectitude for truth at all cost. “We arrive quicker somewhere, said Cromwell, if we don’t know where we are going”. Just by following our inner impulse or our natural instinct, we will arrive safer at our destination.
Spiritual progress is a soul metamorphosis, like the egg to silk worm, then to butterfly and it has nothing to do with religious studies. Hurdles in our unfolding journey are strengthening friends and must never be abandoned. They contain vital inspiring instructions for our spiritual journey. There is always a guiding spirit in all of us, if we but only listen carefully and follow without fear and hesitation. Sinning and suffering are all part and parcel of our spiritual growth, as they are indispensable Soul exercises; No ball can bounce high enough, unless it first hits the ground hard;
Body healing is also an internal guiding process. It has nothing to do with medical and pharmaceutical pseudo-assistance. The body has been equipped internally for this kind of job; it is totally a biological task. Benjamin Franklin wisely said: “God does the healing and doctor takes the fee. It is preposterous to say that if something is taken internally or put on the outside of the body that it will cure disease. All acute diseases are the body’s own healing efforts to expel obstruction from its internal domain and to restore the circulation, amelioration.
Healing is an on going process day and night in order to correct our living mistakes. It is a biological auto-therapeutic action for every living creature. All discomforts, like cold, pain, lack of appetite and so forth, are signs of this internal repairing activity. The body is telling us to rest and not to eat until this repair is finished. Animals in the wild know this truth and obey it, but we humans don’t; drugs have no curing power; they only interrupt the body’s healing process by stupefying the nerves and supplying false comfort by palliation. The side effects of these practices are horrendous! They create incurable and often deadly chronic diseases later.
Obedience to the body’s voice is an act of a developed mind, said the philosopher Dr Alexander Wilde, “Show me your doctor who you are employing and I will tell you of the Intellectual level to which you have attained, he said, Your belief in regard to drugs, remedies and church worship, marks the stratum of the intellectual level to which you have attained”. Man is supposed to be the embodiment of Deity, the crown of the creation, the God in human flesh, but is he today? Unfortunately, the contrary is true. Modern Civilization with its misleading therapeutics and religious superstition has made him the sickliest and the cruellest creature in the universe. Isn’t it a great pity? Omnipotence gave us a free will and the intellect to ride high.
This is our main task. We are not made to crawl and beg after the pseudo-religious dogmas and therapeutic cults. For all our needs in life, we are directly responsible. No one can give it to us, but our selves. No one can take it away from us, but our selves. Omnipotence in us is willing to supply whatever we desire if we trust and believe in our selves. Man in a perfect state is a God in flesh. God in anthropomorphic shape up in the sky is the product of ignorance and superstition. The best faith and the rarest to find in humans, is to have complete faith in them selves. If we believe in our selves, work and persist in our dreams, we will be richly rewarded. We have the same share in the universe as God him self. The choice is ours.
Email: dkaralis@global.co.za
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dimitri_Karalis
Fear and love are opposed to one another, when the one sets in, the other has departed. We never see a loving person to fear or the fearing one to love. Pure love is celestial power and fear for the divinity is an unthinkable issue. The same applies to spirituality; Spirit is a divine current which flows freely in us, if our physical and mental health permits it. “A dormant faculty in the brain; a dead fibre in the body; a thought of failure in the mind; a feeling of constraint in the heart; a stoppage any where, however so slight will make a man less spiritual by so much’’ said the wise thinker ‘E. Purinton’. Climate also plays an important role in the harmonious function of the body, mind and soul. “Where there is dry light the soul is wisest and best” Says Heraclitus.
Nietzsche observed the same in his little book “Ecce homo”, “selective regimen and dry climate with clear skies, are vital for a good metabolism and spiritual growth, he said. Wisdom is an unfolding evolution or a spiritual journey; no specific school or foreign assistance is necessary for this trip, save the guiding of the individual instinct; So long as we keep our inner rectitude for truth at all cost. “We arrive quicker somewhere, said Cromwell, if we don’t know where we are going”. Just by following our inner impulse or our natural instinct, we will arrive safer at our destination.
Spiritual progress is a soul metamorphosis, like the egg to silk worm, then to butterfly and it has nothing to do with religious studies. Hurdles in our unfolding journey are strengthening friends and must never be abandoned. They contain vital inspiring instructions for our spiritual journey. There is always a guiding spirit in all of us, if we but only listen carefully and follow without fear and hesitation. Sinning and suffering are all part and parcel of our spiritual growth, as they are indispensable Soul exercises; No ball can bounce high enough, unless it first hits the ground hard;
Body healing is also an internal guiding process. It has nothing to do with medical and pharmaceutical pseudo-assistance. The body has been equipped internally for this kind of job; it is totally a biological task. Benjamin Franklin wisely said: “God does the healing and doctor takes the fee. It is preposterous to say that if something is taken internally or put on the outside of the body that it will cure disease. All acute diseases are the body’s own healing efforts to expel obstruction from its internal domain and to restore the circulation, amelioration.
Healing is an on going process day and night in order to correct our living mistakes. It is a biological auto-therapeutic action for every living creature. All discomforts, like cold, pain, lack of appetite and so forth, are signs of this internal repairing activity. The body is telling us to rest and not to eat until this repair is finished. Animals in the wild know this truth and obey it, but we humans don’t; drugs have no curing power; they only interrupt the body’s healing process by stupefying the nerves and supplying false comfort by palliation. The side effects of these practices are horrendous! They create incurable and often deadly chronic diseases later.
Obedience to the body’s voice is an act of a developed mind, said the philosopher Dr Alexander Wilde, “Show me your doctor who you are employing and I will tell you of the Intellectual level to which you have attained, he said, Your belief in regard to drugs, remedies and church worship, marks the stratum of the intellectual level to which you have attained”. Man is supposed to be the embodiment of Deity, the crown of the creation, the God in human flesh, but is he today? Unfortunately, the contrary is true. Modern Civilization with its misleading therapeutics and religious superstition has made him the sickliest and the cruellest creature in the universe. Isn’t it a great pity? Omnipotence gave us a free will and the intellect to ride high.
This is our main task. We are not made to crawl and beg after the pseudo-religious dogmas and therapeutic cults. For all our needs in life, we are directly responsible. No one can give it to us, but our selves. No one can take it away from us, but our selves. Omnipotence in us is willing to supply whatever we desire if we trust and believe in our selves. Man in a perfect state is a God in flesh. God in anthropomorphic shape up in the sky is the product of ignorance and superstition. The best faith and the rarest to find in humans, is to have complete faith in them selves. If we believe in our selves, work and persist in our dreams, we will be richly rewarded. We have the same share in the universe as God him self. The choice is ours.
Email: dkaralis@global.co.za
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dimitri_Karalis
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