Patents are a valuable and important part of commercial business success.  To evaluate the potential and patentability of a particular invention, concept or idea, WhiteLight Design always suggests you work with a U.S. Registered, Intellectual Property or Patent Attorney, including conducting patent, trademark and copyright searches and competitive product searches, as appropriate.  You want on your team a professional Industrial Designer and a Patent Attorney, who is an attorney who specialized in intellectual property law and personally consulting with you regarding Patent Law, Patent Office practices and procedures.  

     Working with a Patent Attorney, applying for and being granted a patent can cost $10,000.00 or more (including the attorney and filing fees).  These costs tend to be higher, if the patent examiner does not agree with your positions and you are forced to file multiple lengthy written responses arguing for and distinguishing your claims over the cited patents and other prior art.   Patent search and legal assessment services are key initial steps in determining the likelihood of obtaining patent protection for a particular invention, of a commercially meaningful scope. 
 

Technical Support - Development Options

     If you need technical support, WhiteLight Design, offers preliminary patent search services, market focus reviews, industrial Design Assessment, Engineering Technical Assessment or Manufacturing Materials and Process Assessments including limited or a Engineering Production Manufacturing Evaluations, limited or full  Feasibility Studies.  Feasibility reviews can be implemented in stages to help justifying investment ad reducing development costs. Contact Us for a services quotation. We will be glad to answer your questions.     

Patent Search

     Working with a Patent Attorney, the limited, focused or full patent search is a wise investment but it des not insure getting a patent.     The deliverable for the formal patent search is a written document or letter reviewing the relevant patents and, optionally, a written opinion as to the feasibility of obtaining a patent.   Defining the patentability or feasibility of an idea, design concept, invention, patent or project developed by the Client is not an exact science with highly predictable results based on the fact that current patents may already be pending and the USPTO only allows access to pending patents filed more than about 18 months ago.  In combination, the U.S. Patent Office electronic database is not considered fully complete with all known patents listed.  First to the patent office wins.

    The focus of a patent search is on reviewing relevant patents or prior art along with design, engineering and manufacturing and cost issues.  Patent Evaluation is an extremely important part of the business plan in defining the business development challenges and the roles of Industrial Design and Engineering and proof of concept - prototyping requirements.

Patent searches and patent evaluations assist the project manager because they:

·         support defining the design protocol and patentability, including 2D drawings and 3D proof of concept development prior to committing development capital,

·         support knowing the competition and reducing the risks of patent infringement,

·         support good intellectual property protection to define the broad and specific claims to be made in the patent while promoting development of a comprehensive patent portfolio.

Stage 1  Initial Invention Research -   Go /  No-Go
Generate initial design brief and drawings with call out notations and written descriptions.

Preliminary Patent Review: Includes initial review of the invention for classification of the idea or ideas or concepts and web search with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office to define initial patentability.

Preliminary Technical Engineering Research: Includes initial design and engineering review to define initial feasibility and establish technical or engineering hurdles.

Stage 2  Attorney Patent Search Process - with U.S. Registered Patent Attorney  Go /  No-Go

Preliminary Patent Search: Design / Utility Patent Review: U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.   Includes initial review with attorney to deliver the information for classification of the idea or ideas or concepts to define the product classifications and initial patentability.

Full Patent Search: Design / Utility Patent Review: U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.   Includes full review with attorney to deliver the invention information for classification of the idea or ideas or concepts to define the product classifications and initial patentability.

Preliminary & Full International Patent Search: Design / Utility Patent Review: with selected regional and individual county Patent & Trademark Protection Offices.  Includes full review with attorney and associated international attorney groups to define patentability.

Stage 3  Patent Application with U.S. Registered Patent Attorney

Although not all business ventures or products development programs require patent evaluations, a major working portion of the process is defining the probability or feasibility of the success of a new invention or product venture. Patenting is about protection of commercial value. 

Once the patent evaluation process has defined the window of opportunity it is time to define the overall business/production feasibility of the proposed design solution and define and calculate the chances of success.   This can be achieved and structured into a formal Feasibility Study or limited Feasibility Analysis.  Although the formal feasibility analysis or study is not always necessary, when justified, it supports the decision makers in justifying the continued patent and business development costs.