Patent registration in the United States. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. The United States is a highly developed country, accounts for approximately a quarter of global GDP, and is the world’s largest economy by GDP at market exchange rates. By value, the United States is the world’s largest importer and second-largest exporter of goods. The USA holds 29.4% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share held by any country. Making up more than a third of global military spending, it is the foremost military power in the world and internationally a leading political, cultural, and scientific force. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of patent registration in the United States.
Patent in the United States
According to USA law, a patent in this country is a grant of a property right given by the Government to an inventor. With a patent, the inventor, or the patentee will have the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling the invention in a country, or importing the invention into a country, along with other rights to protect their best interests.
To be patentable in the United States, an invention must satisfy the requirement of new, inventive, and industrially applicable.
The novelty grace period in the United States is 12 months.
In addition, an invention that is patentable can also be an improvement on existing items or methods.
On the other hand, the subjects that are unpatentable in the United States are:
- Discoveries, laws of nature, and mathematical methods;
- Aesthetic designs;
- Systems, rules, and methods for the performance of mental labor, games or management, computer programs;
- Presentation of data and abstract ideas.
Necessary documents for patent registration in the United States
The necessary documents for patent registration in the United States include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s names, addresses, etc.;
- A description of the invention;
- A signed and stamped power of attorney by the applicant(s);
- A copy of the amendments (if any);
- Priority documents (if any).
- Other required documents.
The official language of the US patent application is English. If filed in other languages, a translation of those languages to English must be provided and the statement proving that the translation is correct must also be submitted alongside.
The procedure for patent registration in the United States
To obtain a patent in the United States, the applicant needs to file a patent application to the IP Office of the United States.
To claim priority, the applicant needs to file the patent application to the USPTO within 12 months from the priority date. However, if the applicant passes the deadline, restoration is possible if they can prove that the delay in filing is unintentional.
The patent application will undergo formal examination to check the validity of the patent application. After that, a substantive examination will be conducted automatically with no requests needed from the applicant.
It should be noted that as the examinations usually take a long time, the applicant can choose to accelerate the examination processes through the PPH (Patent Prosecution Highway).
If the application passes through the examinations, a grant decision will be issued and the applicant should receive the patent certificate soon after.
A patent in the United States has a validity period of 20 years.
Annual fees to maintain that validity are due at years 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 from the patent issue date. The patentee may pay the fees within a 5-month period preceding the due date without a surcharge.
If they miss the due date, late payment is possible with a surcharge.
You can see a list of the United States IP firms here.