Yes, you could potentially obtain a utility patent for your invention.
A utility patent protects the structural and functional aspects of an
invention and is normally applied for in those instances where it is
desired to protect how an invention is made (its structure or
composition), how it works, or how it is used. A utility patent can
be issued to any person who invents a new, useful, and nonobvious
process, machine, manufactured article, composition of matter, or any
new and useful improvements in any of these types of inventions.
"Process" means any process or method. So, your consulting
process/methodology, with or without the software algorithm, may be
patentable as a new and useful improvement to the existing known
processes by combining them and using them in a particular order that
has heretofore been unknown.
In an application for a utility patent, you make claims, which for a
process would be in the form of:
A method for doing "invention" comprising the steps of:
a. doing the first step;
b. doing the second step;
...; and
n. doing the last step.
Once you (or your patent agent or patent attorney) have formulated
your invention in this form, then you would want to do a patent search
to identify if it is, in fact, new and nonobvious. You could do this
yourself by visiting www.USPTO.gov and searching the patent database,
or by hiring a patent agent or patent attorney to do it for you. A
patent agent is like a patent attorney in that he or she is registered
with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but a patent agent
cannot secure trademarks and is not an officer of a court, so he or
she cannot litigate anything. Patent agents specialize in the patent
application process.
Generally, a patent agent is somewhat cheaper than a patent attorney.
In order to obtain a patent, if you were to do it yourself, you would
pay $375.00 to start the process and $650.00 to get your patent
issued. A decent book on the subject is published by Nolo Press. The
book is called "Patent It Yourself." One source for the book is
http://www.nolo.com/lawstore/products/product.cfm/objectID/139AEDE9-69A0-4810-A7A87D2AD5422664.
It is available through most bookstores as well.
A patent agent or patent attorney will typically charge between $3,000
and $8,000 to prosecute your patent. Note that there is no guarantee
that you will wind up with a patent simply because you apply for one.
You or your representative must convince a patent examiner that your
patent is new, useful, and nonobvious compared with every known
invention in its field, along with obvious combinations of known
inventions. Depending on how crowded the field of your invention is,
this can be difficult or impossible. A list of patent agents and
patent attorneys can be obtained from www.USPTO.gov, www.findlaw.com,
or your local telephone directory (Yellow Pages). The practice area
for patent attorneys is intellectual property law (you would need this
for a search on www.findlaw.com).
As to whether or not to seek a patent, you must consider the costs and
benefits. It will cost you money to obtain and will require you to
completely disclose your invention. In return, you would gain an
exclusive right to use your invention for 17 years. However, in order
to stop anyone from using your invention and recover damages, you have
to sue them, which can be a lengthy and expensive process. You have
to consider what are the chances and costs of someone stealing your
invention from you. If these are both high, then you may want to
consider seeking patent protection.
An important note: a valid patent may not be obtained if for more than
one year prior to the filing of a patent application, your invention
has been "in public use," has been "published" in some manner which
allows a public viewing of it, or has been "offered for sale" in this
country. Your own use and sale of the invention for more than a year
before your application is filed will bar your right to obtain a
patent just as effectively as though this use and sale had been done
by someone else. Additionally, any sale, publication, or disclosure
to the invention prior to the filing of a United States patent
application will destroy the possibility of obtaining foreign patent
protection in most foreign countries. The US Patent Office does
recognize an "experimental use" exception to this rule, which prevents
the one-year clock from running if it can be shown that a public
display or use was part of an ongoing experiment to test and improve
the invention. If you are potentially adversely affected by this, you
would almost certainly want to consult a patent agent or patent
attorney rather than trying to patent it yourself since you would need
guidance in proving "experimental use."
My intent is not to discourage you from seeking a patent, but to fully
inform you as to the challenges involved. Minor improvements to
inventions in crowded fields can at times constitute patentable
subject matter, so, if you feel that a patent would be helpful to you,
I would certainly go to the trouble of a patent search at the very
least.
Here is an online source that covers this material as well that is
probably taken from the book I referred to:
http://biz.findlaw.com/intellectual_property/nolo/faq/B1EDE764-1F7D-472B-92E4197921C56A8E.html#D95AAF82-7276-4FA8-82E75A84D179F29B
I hope you find the above information helpful. Please request
clarification if needed.
Sincerely,
Wonko |
