In 2011, President Obama signed the America Invents Act, which changed the Patent & Trademark Office from a first-to-invent system to a first-to-file system. Being the first person to file for a patent is the most important detail! A Provisional Patent Application allows you to establish that you were the first! But, without the need for a fully-refined invention or patent application.

Filing a Provisional Application allows you to use the term "Patent Pending," on your invention products and marketing materials, giving your invention additional credibility while you continue development and refine your patent application. The Provisional Application provides up to 12 months of additional time to fully refine your invention and the claims that will be made on the Utility Patent Application.

Utility Patents are the type of patent application that most people think of when they hear the word, “patent”. A Utility Patent protects: “new and useful processes, machines, articles of manufacture, or compositions of matter.” Part of the trade for Utility Patent protection is a complete disclosure of the invention and how it works to the public, furthering the advance of knowledge and scientific discovery. In exchange, the Utility Patent provides you with 20 years of control over the production, sale, or use of your invention.

PLĒS assists clients with preparing, filing, and prosecuting Utility Patent applications before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In addition, we can assist you with everything else that comes after the Notice of Allowance, but before your invention is in the hands of every American.

Design Patents offer more limited protection of your invention than a Utility Patent. A Design Patent protects, “The ornamental design for [article of manufacture] as shown and described”, and that is the single claim allowed on each application. If your invention relies more on its visual appeal than its function, this type of patent application might be the best.

Learn More About Design Patents Below

A Plant Patent offers 20 years of protection for newly discovered plants that were not found in an uncultivated state and have been asexually reproduced. A Plant Patent protects its owner’s right to exclude others from reproducing the plant in-whole or in-part, or the use or sale of the plant. Very few Plant Patents are issued each year, with only approximately 1,250 issued each year over the last 10 years.

For inventors seeking global protection of their inventions, PLĒS can file for International Applications authorized by the Patent Cooperation Treaty (administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO]) with the USPTO. There are currently 158 participating nations to this treaty, including the major manufacturing and emerging commercial markets of Brazil, China, India, and Vietnam. There are two major types of International Applications that mirror patent applications in the United States: the International Application (similar to Utility Patent applications) which provides 20 years of protection from the international filing date, and International Design Patents (similar to Design Patent applications) which are filed separately through WIPO and provide 15 years of protection from the WIPO filing date.