The steps to get patent pending for your invention are:
- Gather the information related to your idea.
- The information needs to be sufficient to replicate your invention by another person without any input from them.
- Write a temporary or draft invention disclosure supported by figures and diagrams.
- Take your document to your favorite patent professional.
The first step involves accumulating all the information needed to disclose your invention.
So you’ve heard people patented their ideas. Right?
Wrong!
Provide at least one practical way to implement the idea
The most important thing to remember is that ideas cannot be patented by itself. Rather, only implementations of an idea can be patented.
This means, to patent your idea you will need to provide a practical example of building the idea into the thing you want to sell. Whether it is a computer program or a tangible mechanical device, you will need to provide the details as to how the final product was produced. If you need to hire someone to build the product, do it. But that person needs to be able to assist you in how the product was built. Therefore, what is needed are details substantial enough that your idea can be replicated without any substantial input from the person reading your document.
Provide figures and diagrams
All the information that sufficiently explains your invention needs to be documented and supported with figures and diagrams. Although, the USPTO does not require figures and diagrams to be presented in a patent application, figures should be provided explaining the invention. Failure to do so would most likely result in your patent application being rejected and subsequently abandoned.
The golden rule to follow: More figures explaining the invention = better patent application.
Find an attorney or draft the application yourself
Finally, when the document is ready take it to your patent attorney for review. If you would rather prefer to prepare the application yourself, you can also use our free patent application generating software available at https://www.getmeapatent.com