If an enabling public disclosure is made before a patent application has been filed virtually all foreign patent rights will be irrevocably lost. Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. Under the United States standards of patentability, all patent applications are examined for novelty, utility, and nonobviousness. With the assistance of a patent attorney, it is the inventor's responsibility to establish these elements to the satisfaction of the Patent and Trademark Office before the patent is allowed to issue. The IRF sent to outsidecounsel for a prior art search and patentability opinion.
Process ends here if opinion negative.
If positive, process continues. The process begins at the time the application is filed and, on average, lasts 2-3 years. A copyright is a grant by the United States of exclusive rights over the writings of an author, and includes software. A trademark differs from both patents and copyrights. It is a word, name, or symbol adopted or used by an individual or corporation to distinguish its goods or services from others' goods or services.