Registering a patent for invención invention product
Complete guide to registering a patent. Before investing your money in patents, it's your duty to get informed. We make it easy for you!
How to register a patent for an invention?
The first thing you need to know is that:
- Registering a patent is the safest way to protect the intellectual property of your idea.
- Registering a patent is the only method that triggers a rigorous examination process.
The rest of the cheap methods to protect an idea come with a catch.
Best time to register a patent.
Over 90% of inventors fail by registering the patent too early.
Why?
- You’ll leave out key aspects of your invention from the patent.
- You’ll give ideas to competitors without having fully developed your invention.
- You doom the innovation cycle.
Diagram: When to Register a Patent
The weakness of a patent
Even if you have technical skills, developing an invention is a process, not a single step. In each phase, you'll gain insights that will lead to: product changes, design improvements, geometry optimization, part reduction, and more…
Patents cannot be edited. If you register the patent before creating the product, you will almost certainly leave out important elements from the protection.
Clues for the competition
The rush to register a patent is often justified by the fear of being copied.
If you haven’t matured your product, by patenting it, you’ll be sharing your idea with other inventors and companies that have the time and money to find improvement alternatives that can invalidate your protection.
A threat to innovation
Demanding that a lab or an product development company manufacture a patent is nonsense!
Patents describe the innovative results of a creative cycle.
Demanding the fabrication of a patent for an unvalidated product means dooming the very cycle that would make the invention competitive.
Registering a patent to sell it
Registering a patent to sell the idea is the sweet dream of inventors.
- It’s not easy.
- It’s not free.
- It’s not fast.
- It’s not accidental.
If the goal is to register a patent to sell the idea, you need a Value Growth strategy.
- Registering a patent to sell products exclusively means you need to evaluate whether it will be a great business for you.
- Registering a patent to sell the idea means you must prove that, in addition to being a great business for you, it’s also a great business for investors or patent buyers.
The value of a patent is inversely proportional to the risk of the invention, so as the inventor meets the fundamental MILESTONES or challenges of the process, the patent will achieve a higher selling value.
From our experience, before proposing the sale of a patent, it is essential to have manufactured a functional prototype and gone through the product optimization process, through the production of a pre-series (replicas of the prototype for commercial testing).
I want to register a patent, but I don't have the money.
Patentes Vs Modelo de Utilidad.
Main differences between Utility Models and Invention Patents:
Criteria | Patents | |
Duration | 10 Years | 20 Years |
Innovation requirements | Weak | Strong |
Approval process | Does not require substantive examination | Requires substantive examination |
Taxes | 86€ | 1200€ |
Market Price | Between 1500€ and 3000€ | Between 7000€ and 15000€ |
Approval likelihood | 88% | 48% |
Ease of internationalization | MEDIA | HIGH |
Sales posibility | 10% | 90% |
Advantages of registering a patent
Exclusivity: An Invention Patent guarantees the exclusive exploitation of an invention for 20 years. This means that during this period, the inventor can sell their patent to a third party, partially assign the exploitation rights of the patent, and receive fixed or variable royalties from its exploitation, or manage selling their products with protection that ensures competition remains distant for 20 years.
Possibility of Selling the Invention: Inventors should include in their invention protection analysis the future possibilities for monetizing the invention. In this regard, there are many more opportunities for a company or investor to be interested in buying an Invention Patent than in a Utility Model or other alternative invention protection methods.
Rigour in the Approval Examination: The existence of a substantive examination for an invention patent should be seen as a positive aspect. When an Invention Patent is approved, an accredited examiner from the Patent and Trademark Office certifies that the initiative is innovative and improves upon any prior records. Thus, this professional examiner and the Patent Office are responsible for their decision to grant the Patent to the Inventor. In the case of a Utility Model, there is no such rigorous examination, which is why almost identical records can be found in the same Patent and Trademark Office.
Disadvantages of patents
Probability of Approval: As a result of the level of rigor with which an Invention Patent is reviewed, there is a 48% probability of approval compared to an 88% probability in the case of Utility Models. It's like being a graduate engineer from the best university in the world versus obtaining the degree from a school where grades are given away. The best companies will compete to hire the top students, and the best patent buying funds will compete for high-interest Patents rather than Utility Models.
Patent Costs: Patents are between 2 and 3 times more expensive than Utility Models. This cost is justified by the difference in the official application fees at the Patent Office, as well as by the fees charged by professionals who prepare the invention documents.
Where to register a patent?
Criteria | Spain Patentes | |
Duration | 20 Years | 20 Years |
Market Size | 48 M | 332 M |
Purchasing capacity (Average Income x Family) | 16.814 € | $ 70.784 |
Taxes | 1200 € | $ 400 + $1200 (opcional respuesta rápida) |
Between 7000€ and 15000€ | Entre $ 10.000 y $15.000 | |
Approval likelihood | 48% | 55% |
Ease of internationalization | + | + |
Posibilidad de venta de patente | LOW | HIGH |
Private investors Market | LOW | HIGH |
Grant Time | 18 - 24 M | 6 - 12 M |
Inventions that can be patented vs. inventions that cannot be patented.
To register a patent, it’s not true that you need a major discovery about something that doesn’t exist.
Those are arguments from Utility Model salespeople who will hardly help you go far.
To register a patent, your invention only needs to meet two requirements:
- Include a non-obvious transformation.
- This improvement must represent a real enhancement.
Patentable Inventions | Non-Patentable Inventions |
Innovative Appliances Industrial Machines Everyday Objects Sports Equipment Medical devices Innovative Furniture
| Books, plays, musical works, or any artistic work. Business Models Games Instructions Medical Treatments Mathematical Models Software Products and Mobile Applications |
Tips for choosing the best place to register a patent:
The decision on which is the best country to register a patent also has a significant impact on the value of a patent. If the inventor's strategy is to create an invention to then sell it, it is crucial to choose the country to establish the patent carefully.
Below, we provide some arguments that might help you make your decision:
Valor del Mercado
A patent grants the exclusive right to exploit the invention in the countries where it is officially registered. The value of a market depends not only on the number of potential buyers but also on the society’s economic capacity to purchase. In this regard, the United States is considered one of the most valuable markets in the world. Therefore, patents for inventions in the United States are usually more valuable than patents in other countries.
Legal certainty of patents
The legal certainty in the field of patents refers to the effectiveness of the legal procedures available to block any attempt to infringe a patent. In this regard, the United States, in order to maintain its status as one of the countries with the highest number of patents in the world, has a highly effective mechanism to protect inventors, which includes its legal framework as well as its Customs and Border Protection services.
Patent-focused investor market
The success of an invention is often influenced by the amount of financial resources the inventor has to move it forward. In this regard, the United States has created and continues to maintain the strongest ecosystem of private investors in the world. Therefore, it is much more likely to attract capital in this market to promote a new invention or sell a patent. Without a doubt, due to the legal certainty associated with the U.S. market, these investors are far more likely to choose a U.S. patent over a patent from other countries.
Patent dispute management
Inventors often forget that when they are granted a patent title, as exciting as that moment may be, it is not the end but the beginning of the process. During the development of an invention, conflicts related to the patent may arise.
Patent grant timelines.
Another factor to consider is the patent grant timeline. Although it is a less critical factor, some countries offer priority examination methods that ensure a resolution in less than 10 months.
Importance of registering a Patent:
For the Inventor: Without a doubt, the exclusive transfer of commercial exploitation rights of an invention, is the main motivation why an inventor publishes his invention and reveals its details or operating principles. From the granting of a Patent, the inventor has several options or Business Models to form a strategy that allows make the invention profitable.
For society: The main objective of a patent isto motivate inventors to document and publish their discoveries and advances, so that science can maintain a accelerated pace of evolution. It is no secret that based on an invention other initiatives are developed and, together, they improve the life of society in general.
La cesión exclusiva de derechos de explotación de un invento, a su inventor, es la herramienta o mecanismo de motivación principal para que los Inventors publiquen sus invenciones y las exploten en exclusiva durante 20 años.
Let’s talk about your project
We’re aware of the importance of protecting information. It is for that reason that we only ask you for superficial and basic details that will allow us to assign your project in-house.
Frequently asked questions about Invention Patents
How to sell a patent?
To sell a patent, it is essential to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of an invention. technical feasibility is demonstrated with a basic engineering project, where the details that will allow the invention works. It is very positive that the inventor has a functional prototype that demonstrates the veracity of the engineering project. The economic viability of the invention is demonstrated with the documentation associated with the functional prototype, as well as the defense of closeness between the prototype and the industrial methods of manufacturing an invention. That the patented product has a certain track record in the market multiplies the sale value of a patent.
Who can sell a patent?
Patents can be sold through a negotiation process that may be directed by the inventor himself. Normally, patents are not sold by chance, but rather, the inventor creates an approach strategy and product improvement that can be very interesting for the product portfolio of an industry leader. Although there are advisors specialized in the sale of patents, you must be very careful, since most of the companies and professionals who advertise Such services are limited to writing to company directors on Linkedin without having a real strategy. Offer your invention not appropriatelyto leaders in the industry, or in very early stages, may affect the future value of the patent.
¿Cómo obtener inversión para patentar una idea?
The truth is that earning the trust of investors in very early stages , it is unlikely and also counterproductive. It could substantially affect the value of the patent. Even offering the participation of investors in very early stages can be a limitation for the future of the project. To finance a patent, you must raise investment in your closest environment and without using methods of diffusion of the idea or invention.
What is a patent dispute?
A patent conflict occurs when a company or individual begins the process of marketing products that partially or totally affect the innovation claims of a patent . We recently met and documented a case that may perhaps clarify your doubts about patent conflicts. The United States is one of the countries with the greatest movement of defense and patent conflicts and at the same time, one of the markets where patents are most sold and bought.
How much does it cost to register a patent?
The price of obtaining a Patent is between €7,000 and €20,000. The price of a patent is determined by the official rates, ="font-weight: 400;"> as well as the fees of the intellectual property advisors. In turn, the fees of intellectual property advisors are conditioned by the industry or sector where you intend to innovate and the volume of information to process for the background study. The details associated with the complexity of the invention are also taken into account in question. In cases where the inventor has a basic engineering project style="font-weight: 400;">or a documented functional prototype , it is possible that the price of the patent be less.
Patents Vs Industrial Design
The Patent and the Industrial Design , are methods of protection of inventions recognized in all Patent and Trademark Offices in the World , unlike the Utility Model. In the case of patents, the innovation claims are protected. style="font-weight: 400;"> that allow the invention to work and at the same time, are innovative or different. In the case of Industrial Design, only the aesthetics of the product are protected and its details associated with product design or appearance.
The time to bring your ideas to life is now. We accompany you throughout the entire process: from idea to product.
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