what to do if you have an invention for a new phone app
A good thought is like finding a pearl amid the ocean – difficult to come up past simply worth all endeavor.
This is more than appropriate when information technology comes to mobile applications. As the market is more than competitive than ever, you lot need to accept a confusing app, potentially attracting more than and more customers.
At present, information technology is natural to feel paranoid, and rightfully so, that someone else might claim that awarding by creating a similar one.
Is there something that tin can exist done to avoid a miserable fate similar this? Of course.
More often than not, people ask this question- "Can you patent an app concept", to which the respond is yes, you tin patent an app idea .
Having your mobile application patented even before you lot officially disclose it in the market and to potential investors is something that can protect your projection from existence duplicated.
Let usa now delve into the mobile app patent process in detail.
Steps to Patent a Mobile App
In this section, we will cover one of the most asked questions by newbies of mobile app development – "how to patent an app?".
i. Find and enlist with a patent attorney
In order to present a well-formed high-end patent and to increase the chances of your patent application getting selected, yous must consult with and hire a software patent attorney, given they accept relevant years of experience.
Since it is a legal process and might include litigation, it is all-time to rent a professional than to try doing it by yourself. It is non advisable to go with the first attorney you run into. Practice your research and look for the best under your upkeep.
2. Mobile app invention disclosure
"Having an idea is just work half done."
To continue this quote, one must bring the idea into actuality (at least to some extent) to confirm its feasibility, something that is highly prominent as an eligibility criterion.
Since the court needs tangible proof of your invention to issue a patent against your awarding, yous must make sure to certificate the whole development process . Besides, you lot tin can create a paradigm of your application to breakup its catamenia.
This will incredibly assist your attorney to figure out the flowchart of your awarding since it is not the code but the functionality and processes of the app that gets patented.
This is great for figuring out the various implications of your application in different industries and gives you a new direction to call up of what other elements in your mobile app are eligible for patenting.
{Besides read: Why Does Your Business Need A Mobile Application for Growth? }
3. Do patent search
Though you have done your homework, information technology is always brash to hire patent attorneys that conduct a worldwide search for applications like to yours or have similar functionalities or flows, to avoid any unanticipated infringement from other companies.
After all, information technology is ameliorate to spend a few bucks and make certain your patent has the nearly chances of getting sanctioned than to start from square one – all over again. You can do your research from the USPTO website.
4. File a provisional or non-provisional patent application
There are two types of patent applications that you can use every bit your patent application for your mobile app – provisional and non-provisional patent applications.
Conditional Application: It is i of the nearly common app patent applications. Under the provisional application, you will be allowed to file without a formal patent declaration, claim, or even information disclosure statement. Hither are some benefits that this awarding type offers:
- It grants 12 months to develop the MVP
- Allows usage of term 'patent pending' on the app
- Less expensive to prepare compared to non-conditional applications.
Non-provisional Application: It can be filed without any claims made on the application made in the convention country or without whatsoever app reference which is already in the process in part. It is necessary that it must be accompanied with a complete claim and specifications.
It should contain a written clarification of the invention and a claim which legally defines the invention.
In order to choose one, as you must, you need to ask two questions –
- How fast practise you want your patent granted?
- How long do you lot desire to delay patent examination costs?
If your requirements point to the start question, then non-provisional is best suited for yous. However, if otherwise is the case, then definitely provisional patent application , as it is never examined, as opposed to not-provisional. Here is an illustration to clear the flick in your mind –
five. Submit your application
This is the final step to patent an idea. Once you lot accept successfully performed all the in a higher place steps and have prepared a patent application, you are required to file it with the USPTO. Though this is a tedious procedure involving a lot of paperwork, you lot must see it through. Some of the important documents that you may crave during the process are –
- Adjuration/Declaration
- Specification
- Entity Status Form
- Data Disclosure Statement
- Application Data Sheet (ADS)
- Claims
- (optional) Patent Cooperation Treaty (for International Filings)
- Drawings
- (optional) Application to Make Special
- Fee Sail
- Encompass Canvass
Now that we have dealt with the steps to patent an idea, permit's move to the requirements for patenting an app.
What are the Requirements for Patenting a Mobile App?
The 3 prominent criteria, on the ground of which your application will be reviewed, are generally the same in all the countries. These are the same criteria that would answer how to patent an app.
- This is the first benchmark that you should tick off on the listing. Yous cannot simply patent an app idea. So, when filing a patent for an app, you take to mention all the important details and documentation of your projection, from its lawmaking to the flow and functioning of the awarding, in favor of the fact that information technology is practical and useful.
For case, allow's take the case of Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International . In 2014, the supreme court initiated a two-stride assay.
The first step was to ensure whether the patent claim independent an abstract idea like a method of computation, algorithm, or another full general principle. If it had, the procedure would motion to the next footstep. If otherwise, the merits was considered potentially patentable, subject to the other ii criteria.
In the second step, the court had to find out whether the patent claim added "something extra" to the abstruse idea than what already exists. And might exist considered an "inventive concept". If it is negative, the idea would be deemed invalid.
- The 2nd criterion of how to become a patent for an app is to know whether the invention (application every bit you volition) is novel (as in new) or not. It means the application should have something that is substantially unique and different. In the words of Angelo Firenze –
Then, you demand to make sure that your idea has not been patented before by anyone, lest your asking for a patent would exist rejected and you lot might be subjected to infringement. Then, practice your research. Yous can refer to the USPTO website or Google patents for inquiring purposes.
- The third criterion, and rather the hard one, is that the mobile app should be non-obvious. Meaning, your project will not go sanctioned if it is simply the integration or affiliation of, but slightly modified, pre-existing technologies without possessing whatever unique trait or functionality.
Cost of Patenting a Mobile App
To answer the question of "How much does information technology cost to patent a mobile app?" we would say that information technology varies from types of the patent application you utilize. You can refer to the USPTO list to know more about specific costs , including every fee. More so, hither are a few basic charges that you are required to pay while filing for app patent application:
- Elementary filing fee: $70-280+
- Patent search fee: $150-600
- Patent Examination fee: $180-700
- 3.5-twelvemonth maintenance fee: $400-1600 (involves keeping a granted patent valid)
- 7.five-yr maintenance fee: $900-3600
- 11.5-year maintenance fee: $1850-7000+
For the sake of mentioning an amount, the app patent cost via conditional patent awarding tin can amount anywhere between $2000 to $5000 , whereas, for a non-provisional patent, it ranges from $ten,000 to $15,000.
{Also Read: How much does information technology cost to make an app? }
How Much Time Does it Take to Patent a Mobile App?
Now that we have delved into the app patent price and how to get a patent for an app, it is time to look into the time it would take to complete the entire process.
Mostly, applications become rejected and resubmissions are done over and over over again. This back and forth process tin can concluding up to iv to vi years, based on the circumstances. In fact, it took 6 years for Mark Zuckerberg to get a patent for Facebook which was granted in 2012.
Why Patenting is Not for Every App Owner
While patenting is fabricated to seem extremely necessary, it is non for every application. Let us highlight some of the issues that you should prepare for when thinking of taking the mobile app patent route.
ane. Patents tend to block crucial resources
Startups must exist aware of the blocking effects that patents carry on the personal and visitor resources. These includes:
- Price – the price of filing patents averages $30,000 in three to five years range. This added to the legal costs can cripple the startups financially, bringing information technology under the cerise zone in the Turn a profit and Loss statements.
- Time – the procedure of obtaining a patent takes up a lot of fourth dimension which oftentimes ranges from several months to even years. Allocating this bandwidth calls for a considerable time and energy away from the app idea execution.
2. The protection is not bodacious
The patent violation instances are very specific. Meaning, even the about stringent agreement might not be able to provide the protection you lot might seek at the time of breach. A number of brands face issues with rip-offs that brand slight variations in the app to arrive seemingly new – a patent will be piddling to no help in those cases.
3. Companies tend to pin their original ideas to perfection
It is very natural for a startup to change their goal and ideas. The problem that emerges is that patents simply tend to protect the initial level inventions and non the following iterations. This means, startups would accept to refile for patents every time they pivot or just update their application.
{Bonus read: How to successfully run a startup in the mobile app industry?}
The Alternatives to App Patents
one. Copyright
Mobile app copyright or patent is an historic period old debate. Like Patent, Copyright is too a type of IPRs but a little dissimilar though. Information technology is a collection of rights issues to the inventor or author of any piece of work i.e., literary, artistic, educational, musical, or the computer programs and assuasive them to publish or reproduce their work, make derivatives, etc., irrespective of whether it is published or unpublished.
It protects the expression of ideas and non the thought itself. So in our example, y'all can copyright your app logo and not the app itself, as it does not encompass facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation.
2. Trademark
Patents prohibit others from making or selling the protected invention, whereas a trademark protects words, phrases, symbols, logos, or other devices that are a source to identify the goods or services of the originator, preventing other competitors from using them. So, a trademark can be issued for the logo of your awarding to stop your competitors from copying it and creating confusion amongst the users.
3. NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreements)
The NDA is a document which is signed past the entities you lot work with on your projection, generally between you and your mobile app development company. Information technology legally binds them to keep your app idea and technicalities confidential. This, in plow, protects the idea from beingness used by outsiders.
What Do Appinventiv Recommends?
In our digital feel, we have disregarded the development and deployment of over 500 digital products merely patenting helped with zero launches.
Information technology is true that utility patents can help in some cases, but until and unless you accept come up with an entirely new way of doing things or have come up upwards with a new usage of device it makes zilch sense to block or drain your resources in that direction.
The dull process of getting a patent doesn't simply cease up becoming a roadblock in the production-market place fit but also slows down the agile development process.
FAQs
Q. Exercise y'all have to patent an app?
- It totally depends on your needs. But it is advisable to patent your app idea to safeguard your app confronting copying, unconsented usage, and more.
Q. What are the requirements to qualify for a patent?
- The 3 key points that qualify your application for patent are:
- It has to be an invention
- App idea must be unique and new
- It must exist qualified equally unusual
Q. How much fourth dimension does it accept to get the app idea patent?
- Generally, it takes i-3 years to go the app idea patent. The patent application starts with the examination procedure and is cleaved downward into different factors, such equally specification, claims, abstruse, and drawings.
Q. How much does it cost to patent an app thought?
- The estimated cost for patenting a mobile app can cost you between $ii,000 to $fifteen,000.
Q. How to know if your app idea is already patented or not?
- You can cheque this by easily logging into the USPTO website and searching appropriate keywords for all patents filed.
Final Notation
To conclude, yep, yous can patent mobile applications (not just an idea, there should be tangible proof of the projection). It also depends on your needs (every bit discussed to a higher place in the article) whether or rather when you should think of patenting your mobile application. In whatever instance, app patent protection for your intellectual holding is adamant equally it protects your app against copying, unconsented usage, and more, for every bit long as 20 years.
Marcom Manager
Source: https://appinventiv.com/blog/how-to-patent-mobile-app/