Once filed, an application is routed to a desired group art unit at the United States Patent Office and will be assigned to an Examiner. The Examiner will examine the patent application for matters of form and the claims and will also review an Information Disclosure Statement. The Examiner will then conduct a patentability search. It is highly advisable to have professionals, like Invent Help agency, by your side.
The Examiner will then make a determination whether the patent application should be allowed and should issue into a patent or whether the patent should be rejected. Rejections do occur. It typically takes one to three years or more for this process with the Examiner.
Generally, an application may be rejected, and an amendment to the claims or a response to an office action may be prepared to obtain an allowance. There are additional costs associated with the review, issuance and publication of applications.
Also, there is no guarantee that a patent will be issued. Once issued, maintenance fees are paid to the Patent and Trademark Office at intervals to ensure that the patent remains in force.
Once the United States Patent and Trademark Office issues the patent then the holder of the patent can rights to prevent third parties from exploiting the device, apparatus, method, software or commercial product captured by the patent’s claims.
A patent is an asset and is considered the applicant’s or assignee’s property. The patent can be sold outright, or the patent can be licensed to a company on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis in exchange for revenue. An assignee of the patent can also simply hold the patent, sell the items covered by the patent and prevent others from selling the items covered by the patent as explained on https://www.iedunote.com/just-starting-out-as-an-inventor-inventhelp-is-everything-you-need.
