Patent pending how long

While a patent pending notice is not legally required and does not have any legal effect, it is still valuable to warn third-parties that your invention has a patent application filed and eventually may receive a granted patent. Placing a patent pending notice on a product, marketing material or website is important to provide public notice that you have officially filed a patent application.

After your patent application is filed with the U. Patent Office, you can use a suitable patent pending notice. While there is no required format for a patent pending notice, below are some suitable examples commonly used today:.

The patent pending notice you use must be true and accurate. You should conspicuously place the patent pending notice on the product itself, product packaging, marketing materials, websites and any other location related to your product. Skip to content info neustel.

This number tells other people you've applied for a patent. Using a PPA allows you to grab an early filing date, even if you aren't quite ready to turn in a regular application. You must turn in the nonprovisional application within a year of filing your PPA to hold on to its filing date for your patent application.

If someone else files for the same invention, the USPTO will award the patent to the person with the earliest filing date.

During the one year between filing the PPA and filing a regular patent application, you can test your product in the market.

Make sure it's going to do well before spending the money on a utility or a plant patent application. During the patent pending phase, inventors have no legal rights. They can't sue someone who steals their idea. But once they have a patent, inventors can sue someone in federal court for taking their idea. The court can award damages going back through part of the patent pending period.

Often, these penalties strongly discourage another company or person from taking your work. Patent attorneys say you should only talk about your work after it has a patent pending. Many investors, licensees, and potential buyers appreciate the credibility that comes with a patent pending designation. It can help you secure financing and market your product.

When you have a patent pending, you don't have to ask investors or manufacturers to sign a nondisclosure agreement NDA. Once your patent is pending, you can put a notice on your product and any collateral you use to promote it. It's legal to use patent pending in these cases:. There aren't set standards on how to mark your product with a patent pending status. You can use any of these or similar terms:. The notice you use must be accurate. Don't use "U. Place the notice in a visible spot on your product, website, and other materials.

It's illegal to use the patent pending label on your product or promotional assets if you haven't applied for a patent or you've received your patent. The label only applies for the time when you're waiting for the USPTO to approve or deny your application. After the USPTO gives the patent or the inventor abandons the application, the inventor can no longer use the patent pending notice without breaking the law. Once inventors receive a patent, they replace "patent pending" with the patent number.

It can look like this: Pat. Using a PPA allows you to grab an early filing date even if you aren't quite ready to turn in a regular application. You must turn in the non-provisional application within a year of filing your PPA to hold on to its filing date for your patent application. If someone else files for the same invention, the USPTO will award the patent to the person with the earliest filing date.

During the year between filing the PPA and filing a regular patent application, you can test your product in the market. Make sure it's going to do well before spending the money on a utility or plant patent application.

The time period from application to patent receipt depends on whether you file a provisional or non-provisional application.

Non-provisional applications are placed in a queue and examined in order of receipt once all documentation has been submitted. The average wait time is about 21 months until examination and about 32 months until the application is approved or denied. Inventions in certain technical areas may have a shorter wait time. This depends on how many examiners are available in that particular specialty, known as an art unit.

Each art unit has a separate queue with a separate wait time. Provisional patent applications , on the other hand, are not placed in a queue. Instead, you'll have a year from the filing date to submit a complete non-provisional application. Once you do so, your application will be queued for examiner review. During the patent pending phase, inventors have no legal rights.

They can't sue someone who steals their idea. But once they have a patent, inventors can sue someone in federal court for taking their idea. The court can award damages going back through part of the patent pending time period. Often, these penalties strongly discourage another company or person from taking your work.

Patent attorneys say you should only talk about your work after it has a patent pending. Many investors, licensees, and potential buyers appreciate the credibility that comes with a patent pending designation. It can help you secure financing and market your product. When you have a patent pending, you don't have to ask investors or manufacturers to sign a non-disclosure agreement NDA.

Prioritized examination, called Track One , is offered by the USPTO for a limited number of applications each year for an additional fee. Business Business Essentials. Business Essentials Guide to Mergers and Acquisitions. What Is a Patent Pending? Key Takeaways A patent pending notice is used by inventors to let the public know that they have filed a patent application for their innovation.

The main benefit of a patent pending disclosure is that it establishes a priority date for the invention and provides legal recourse to the inventor. Violators or copiers of pending patents can be sued for patent infringement and are liable for damages, such as back-dated royalties and injunction or a seizure of the items that copied their provisional patents.

Compare Accounts. The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where listings appear. Investopedia does not include all offers available in the marketplace. The "patent pending" label identifies such a product. How Patents Work A patent grants property rights to an inventor of a process, design, or invention for a set time in exchange for a comprehensive disclosure of the invention.

What Is a Service Mark? A service mark is a brand name or logo that identifies the provider of a service, which may include a word, phrase, symbol, design, or some combination. What Is a Patent Agent? A patent agent is a professional licensed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office to advise on and assist inventors with patent applications.

What Does Condemnation Mean?