If you are an inventor or a business owner, getting a patent may be an important step to take to protect your intellectual property. You need to ensure that only your company is allowed to use that IP and that a competitor won’t use it to rip off your products or try to steal your customers.
But it’s important to identify the specific type of patent that you need, depending on what you’re trying to protect. This is not a one-size-fits-all situation. Below are a few different examples.
A utility patent
To start with, most people will apply for a utility patent. This is the most common one that is seen by the USPTO. It can be used to protect a machine, a process, manufacturing equipment or something of this nature. It can also be used for drastic improvements, so upgrades to an existing machine may qualify for their own patent.
A design patent
Patents can also be used for ornamental designs. What is important to your company is the appearance, rather than the utility itself. It’s important to protect this so that other products have to look significantly different and consumers won’t get confused.
A plant patent
Plant patents can also be used, sometimes when new plants are invented in a lab. But they could also be granted to someone who discovers a new plant, in certain situations. For instance, companies that make certain types of food may grow very specific plants to use as ingredients, and they can then patent these because it’s an important part of their end product.
These are just three examples, but you can see that getting a patent may be a bit more complex than you thought. It can help to have the guidance of an experienced law firm at this time.
