Patents

Patent Law: Protecting Your Brilliant Idea

The founding fathers understood the importance of providing incentives to people to invent useful products. In the Constitution, they authorized Congress to enact patent laws “to protect the useful … arts.” If you have developed a new device or improved on an existing device, you may be able to protect your right to profit from your idea by securing a patent. The patent process, however, is complicated and can be expensive. To obtain a patent, while it may be possible to file your own application, to improve your chances of success, you really need to retain skilled and experienced legal counsel, for the drafting and “prosecution” of your patent application.

Patent prosecution is the process of drafting the application, which is a detailed written description of the invention, filing it with various patent offices, and answering requests for additional information from the Patent Office, engaging in a didactic process with the Patent Examiner(s), all in an effort to obtain a patent from a Patent Office, including, here in the United States, the US Patent and Trademark Office. This process also includes reviewing other patents, non-patent publications, and reports of public disclosure(s) and/or use(s) in an effort to determine which may be material (so-called “prior art”) to attempt to determine whether anyone else has attempted to obtain a patent on a similar invention or published an article or abstract on a similar invention. Prosecution also may require preparing and, if necessary, arguing any appeals from the final denial of a patent.

The attorneys at Hankin Patent Law handle all aspects of patent prosecution, from initial review of similar products to final appeals, when necessary. If you are considering filing for a patent, contact us to schedule a consultation. We will evaluate your product and advise you as to the most efficient way to proceed.

To obtain a patent, you must show three things:

• that the invention is new…no one else has already invented it,
• that the invention is useful…that it does something functional, and
• that the invention or improvement is not obvious to one skilled in that art.

In the United States, the law requires that you file an application with the patent office within one year of making the invention known or available to the public. At Hankin Patent Law, we will examine your invention and, if requested, we are qualified to provide you with a written opinion as to whether a patent may be obtained. We will guide you with respect to timing the filing of your patent application.

We have close and long-standing relationships with patent attorneys in most other countries throughout the world. If you need or want to obtain a patent in any country outside the United States, Hankin Patent Law can interface on your behalf with attorneys in those countries to provide you with the broadest and best possible protection.

Marc E. Hankin is a registered patent lawyer. He takes a proactive approach to protecting clients’ inventions, and when necessary, constructing solid patent defenses. Through the use of an Intellectual Property audit, Hankin Patent Law is able to flag unprotected technological advantages and to warn of potential patent discrepancies before they become problems.

Mr. Hankin’s strong and broad scientific background allows him to understand and discuss patent issues with engineers and scientists in many different disciplines. Mr. Hankin’s undergraduate training in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics (he also taught High School Chemistry and Physics for three years) and his Masters in Biology has equipped him to work with clients in such diverse areas: as chemical vapor deposition of transition metals; ink jet printers; dental bleaching and dental/surgical lasers; preventing drinks from spilling on airplane tray tables; desalinating water using the laws of nature (and no additional energy input); and food chemistry including making meat more palatable by slaughtering happier animals (no, really) and perfecting the method of keeping the chocolate layer of pudding from bleeding into the vanilla layer of pudding before the eater is ready for the spoon to disrupt the barrier, to name just a few.

Contact Hankin Patent Law for information on how we can help you protect your valuable patents. If you are in need of an Orange County patent attorney you need the lawyers at Hankin Patent Law.