Whether you are an independent inventor, an fledgling entrepreneur or a seasoned inventor who is going out on your own for the first time, the best thing you can do for yourself is to become familiar with the concepts and procedure associated with protecting your inventions.

Obtaining patents is not easy for the uninitiated, and without some familiarity you will be wandering aimlessly and wholly incapable of making sound business decisions.

Simply stated: Inventors who are completely unfamiliar with the patent process also won’t be able to help in any meaningful way with the patent process.

This is far more tragic than you might suspect.

Sure, if you can afford to hire a patent attorney to represent you then you should.  The patent attorney is there to, among other things, drag information about your invention out of you and translate it into the archaic legalese used in patent applications.  The job of the patent attorney is to present your invention in a way that is most likely to accentuate the positive — namely the core uniqueness of your invention that will most probably lend itself to being patentably distinct compared with other inventions.

Even when hiring a patent attorney inventors still need to be engaged in order to give the patent attorney the best information available about the invention. This seems simple enough, but so many inventors fail to understand what information is important and why it is necessary.  If you don’t understand the “why” you will never be able to provide all the information that you could and should. The result will be a patent application, or issued patent, that isn’t as good as it could be.

While I don’t mean to imply that inventors are children, a perfect example of what I’m talking about comes from when parents attempt to teach their children not to touch the stove.  

Why? Because it is hot, of course. But does the child really understand that? No, not until they touch it anyway and connect “hot” with the pain they experienced.

Experiential learning is formative for children, and in my experience the most powerful, formative type of learning — even for adults.

I’ve worked with literally thousands of inventors over the years and there is a remarkable difference between the level of information I receive when the inventor understands why I need that information and how it will be used.

Unfortunately, so  many inventors think they know best, but in my experience this is almost always because they don’t know what they don’t know.  By the time they discover first hand that the figurative stove is hot there will be nothing they can do because they are facing a final rejection and the most critical information needed to distinguish their invention not present in the patent application that was filed.  This happens routinely when inventors represent themselves.

It can also happen when an inventor refuses to cooperate and provide the necessary information about the invention to the patent attorney. It can also happen when an inventor finds a professional who quotes a bargain basement price; in the patent space you really do get what you pay for.

Patent attorneys need to know everything from the big picture to the minor, seemingly insignificant nuances of the invention. That has to come from the inventor, at least if there is really an invention. We can and will attempt to pull it out of you, but the more you know the greater your appreciation will become. There are specific reasons why we want and need certain information, and if you know how and why that information will be used you will invariably be in a much better position to provide it in the first place and then meaningfully engage in brainstorming as the application takes shape and your invention is pulled to its logical extremes in hopes of obtaining the largest patent footprint available.

With this in mind you as an inventor need to envision yourself as a key player of the legal team working to obtain a patent on your behalf. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you know the law better or could draft a patent application or patent claims that are as good as a patent attorney could. But embrace your vital role, which is as the one who is the master of the innovation that needs to be described. Even the United States Patent and Trademark Office recognizes the inventor as a key part of the team.  Everyone substantively involved in the prosecution of a patent application owes a duty to the Patent Office to disclose prior art that they know about which is material to the patent application.  Inventors

specifically owe this duty to the Patent Office and patent examiner.

It is absolutely essential to understand the basics of patents and patent practice so you can engage in meaningful collaboration and dialogue. With that in mind, what follows are 7 things you must understand as you embark upon your journey to protect your invention

[see part 2]