Patent Application

Write the draft of a complete U.S. patent application, including drawings and claims.

Follow the style outlined in Pressman, "Patent It Yourself"

Suggestion: List the specific intellectual property that has been captured in your project. Then, for the patent, write the claims first and the specification second. The heart of the patent is in the claims so that is where you want to spend most of your efforts. If you approach this task by writing the specification first, it is likely that all you will be doing is just providing a detailed description of your project, without much consideration to the specific intellectual property being claimed.

Follow these steps in creating your application:

1. Describe what the invention is and does...in one paragraph.
2. List prior art patents and products.
3. List what is new about your invention.
4. Draft the claims, consulting the Pressman book for language and style. Do not worry too much about exact claim language.
5. Create one or more drawings of the invention.
6. Write the patent specification.
7. Write the background section to the patent.
8. Place the output of steps 1-3 in a supplemental document. Place the output of steps 4-7 in the format of the patent application.

Resources:

1. Pressman, "Patent It Yourself" (Excellent introduction to intellectual property, patents, patent searching and patent writing)
2. Patent attorneys associated with the NPDBD course.