Once you have confirmed that patent protection is appropriate for your invention, what are the steps involved in applying for a patent?
You have two options: you can draft the patent application yourself, which we do not recommend, or you can call on the services of an intellectual property attorney such as Brandon IP to provide you with the support you need.
Draft it yourself
If you wish to draft your patent yourself, you should be aware that this involves risks, as drafting a patent application is a complex matter.
However, the local Patent Office usually provides some information summarizing the various parts of the patent and the formalities to be observed. You will read in these documents that, when drafting a patent application, it is important to pay close attention to the claims as they determine the scope of the patent. Drafting the claims too restrictively will result in little or no protection for your invention, whereas drafting them too broadly may cover prior art and prevent you from obtaining a patent.
We must warn you against embarking on this “adventure” alone. Drafting a patent application requires both legal and technical skills. Inadequate drafting can lead to your application being rejected and the invention falling into the public domain, making it freely exploitable by anyone. In addition, a poorly drafted patent application makes the procedure more complicated, requires corrections and/or amendments and generally leads to procedural delays and costs that can be high.
We strongly advise you to call on the services of a qualified specialist, an experienced Intellectual Property Attorney (IPO), who will be able to provide you with the advice you need to obtain effective protection for your invention with a view to its exploitation.
Working through a patent attorney firm (in particular Brandon IP 😉)
When you contact us, we will ask you to draft a brief description of the invention, including a few diagrams, and to mention the distinctive features of what is currently being done. We will provide you with a brief outline.
A few words about your strategy will help us to understand your project.
We will then organize a technical meeting to discuss and confirm the vision of your invention and determine its scope.
Based on the brief description and the technical meeting, one of our patent engineers, an intellectual property attorney, will draft the text of the patent application (within 2 to 4 weeks in normal circumstances), which will then be submitted to you for approval.
Once your comments have been taken into account and you have given your approval (1 or 2 return trips), we will approach the French Patent Office or the European Patent Office to complete the formalities for filing the patent application.
Your invention will then be protected!
A patent gives you a monopoly of exploitation in the territory of your choice. However, filing a patent is a significant investment, especially if you want to extend protection to foreign countries.
It is therefore important that the patent is of high quality, i.e. strong and difficult to circumvent, as this will determine the strategy for exploiting your patent application (on your own or through licenses), and therefore the profitability of your investment.
Only a patent drafted by an experienced intellectual property attorney can meet this requirement.
In financial terms, it should be added that a patent is an intangible asset and as such has a significant financial value.
To find out more about any of these aspects, do not hesitate to get in touch.