Intellectual Property FAQ

A patent protects an invention, meaning how a product works or how it looks. A trademark protects the name, logo or slogan customers know it by. Many products need both, because a competitor can copy the product, the brand or both.

Start with what you would least want copied. If it is the technology, look at a patent. If it is the name, look at a trademark. The Intelligent IP Quiz points you to a starting point in a few minutes, and your strategy call settles it.

An invention is patentable if it is patent-eligible subject matter, new, not obvious to someone skilled in the field, and described well enough for others to make and use it. An idea on its own is not enough. You need a concrete invention, though not a working prototype.

The new and nonobvious tests are where most inventions succeed or fail, and they turn on what already exists. That is what a patentability search answers before you spend on an application. Read more about what is patentable.

Prior art is anything available to the public before your filing date that shows the same or a similar invention. That includes patents and published applications from any country, articles, websites, videos, products on sale and public talks, in any language.

Your own public disclosures can count against you too, which is why the timing of your first filing matters. The USPTO compares your claims with the prior art to decide whether your invention is new and nonobvious.

Usually, yes. A patentability search tells you whether your invention is likely new before you pay to draft and file an application, and it shapes the claims if you do file.

The firm's search is a flat $999. It covers US and foreign patents and published applications, takes about 5 days, and ends with a written report and a review call with your attorney. Know it’s patentable before you file, or get your money back. If you go ahead, the $999 is credited toward a design or non-provisional application. Every refund is subject to the RLG Guarantee Policy in your engagement letter.

Yes. The USPTO's Patent Public Search, Google Patents and WIPO's PATENTSCOPE are free, and a quick search can show you whether something close already exists. From November 7, 2026, Patent Public Search requires signing in with a USPTO.gov account.

A free search is a good first look, not an answer. Examiners also search articles, products and foreign documents, and judge whether a combination of references makes your invention obvious. Read how to do a patent search or compare it with a professional patent search.

Yes. You do not need a prototype to file a patent application. You need a description complete enough that someone skilled in the field could make and use the invention.

Sketches, CAD files, code, flowcharts or a detailed written explanation can all be enough for an attorney to document the invention. What you cannot patent is a bare idea or a goal without a way of achieving it. Read more on patenting an idea without a prototype.

In the US, possibly. You have one year from your own first public disclosure, sale or offer for sale to file, under the US grace period. After that year, your own disclosure can block your patent.

Most other countries have no such grace period, so a public disclosure before filing can end your chance of a patent abroad. If you have already shown, posted, pitched or sold it, tell your attorney the dates on your strategy call. If you have not, file before you go public.

Use a non-disclosure agreement before you share confidential details with a manufacturer, partner or contractor. Many investors decline to sign NDAs, so for pitches the safer route is to file a provisional patent application first and share only what you are comfortable making public.

An NDA is a contract, not a patent. It gives you a claim against the person who signed it, not against everyone else. Read more on patent non-disclosure agreements.

A provisional application secures your filing date and patent pending status for 12 months, but it is never examined and never becomes a patent. A non-provisional (utility) application is examined by the USPTO and is the one that can become a patent.

Most inventors file a provisional first, then file the non-provisional within the 12 months, claiming the provisional's date. The 20-year patent term runs from the non-provisional filing date, so the provisional year does not use it up. At this firm a provisional is $2,500 to $3,500 and a utility application $7,000 to $12,000 (software $11,000). Read provisional vs non-provisional.

A utility patent protects how something works or is made. A design patent protects how it looks. If competitors could copy the function, you want a utility patent, and if the look is what sells it, a design patent may be the quicker and lower cost protection. Many products get both.

At this firm a design patent is $3,200 with office actions included, and a utility patent $7,000 to $12,000. A design patent lasts 15 years from grant, a utility patent generally 20 years from filing. Read design patent vs utility patent.

Often, yes, when the claims describe a specific technical solution rather than an abstract idea. Software is examined under the Alice test, which asks whether the claims add something more than an abstract idea such as a business method or a mathematical formula.

How the application is written matters as much as the invention, so it should explain the technical problem and how your software solves it. The code itself is protected by copyright, not patents. See software and mobile app patents and patent eligibility for AI inventions.

No. Only a natural person can be an inventor on a US patent. An invention made with the help of AI tools can still be patented if a person conceived of the claimed invention, under USPTO guidance revised in November 2025.

Keep records of what you contributed, such as the problem you defined, the approach you chose and how you tested and refined the output. Read can AI be an inventor.

Similar is not the same. A patent covers only what its claims cover, so an improvement, a new combination or a different way of solving the problem can still be patentable.

Two questions matter. Can you get a patent, which the patentability search answers? And could your product infringe someone else's patent, which is a separate freedom-to-operate question. Your attorney can tell you on your strategy call whether a freedom-to-operate review is worth doing before launch.

Yes. The USPTO accepts applications from inventors who represent themselves. The risk is in the claims, which decide what the patent actually covers, and in gaps you cannot fix later, because new matter cannot be added to an application once it is filed.

A registered patent attorney writes the claims to cover your invention and the versions a competitor might build, then answers the examiner during examination. A flat fee means you know that cost before you start.

Both are registered to practice before the USPTO and can prepare and file patent applications. A patent attorney is also a licensed lawyer, so they can advise on contracts, licensing, infringement and litigation, which a patent agent cannot.

The firm's team includes registered patent attorneys and patent agents. Meet them on the team page.

No. Mailing yourself a description of your invention gives you no patent rights. The US awards patents to the first inventor to file, so the date that counts is your filing date at the USPTO.

A provisional patent application is the low cost way to secure a real filing date.

Yes, but without a filing you have little to stop the buyer, or anyone who sees it, from using it for free. Many companies will not review outside ideas unless they are patent pending, and a patent or a pending application is what you can actually license or sell.

Read how to sell ideas to companies and how to sell a patent.

Only where you want protection. Patents and trademarks are territorial, so a US filing protects you only in the United States.

For patents, one PCT application filed within 12 months of your first filing keeps your right to seek patents in 159 member countries, usually until 30 or 31 months from that first filing. At this firm it is a flat $12,000, and the national phase costs in each country are separate. For trademarks, the Madrid System lets one international application, based on your US filing, cover any of 133 countries. See international trademarks.

A refund promise on four services, patentability searches, provisional patents, design patents and trademarks. If the answer on a covered service is no, you get a full refund under the RLG Guarantee Policy in your engagement letter.

It is a refund promise, not a promise of a granted patent, a registration or any legal outcome. See The RLG Guarantee.

Four services, each with its own terms.

Patentability search. If the search finds your invention is not novel, a full refund or another search.

Provisional patents. Patentability issues, a full refund or more searches, your choice.

Design patents. If the USPTO denies your design application, a full refund.

Trademarks. If the USPTO denies your trademark, a full refund. Registrability issues, a refund or more searches.

Every refund is subject to the RLG Guarantee Policy in your engagement letter.

Utility (non-provisional) patent applications, office action responses on them, PCT and other international filings, IP litigation and startup legal work. They are still flat fees, quoted before any work begins, without the refund promise.

No. No attorney can promise that the USPTO will grant a patent or register a trademark, and the firm does not. The guarantee covers your fee on a covered service, not the outcome.

If the search finds your invention is not novel, a full refund or another search. Every refund is subject to the RLG Guarantee Policy in your engagement letter.

Knowing before you file saves the cost of an application that was unlikely to succeed, and the report explains what the search found.

Talk to your attorney. The RLG Guarantee Policy in the engagement letter for your matter sets the steps and conditions, and if the answer on a covered service is no, you choose a full refund or, where the policy allows, another search.

The policy is written into your engagement letter before any work begins, so read it before you sign and ask your attorney about anything that is unclear.

Yes. Patentability searches, provisional patents, design patents and trademarks stay covered by The RLG Guarantee when you pay over time with Affirm. Every refund is subject to the RLG Guarantee Policy in your engagement letter.

A patent is a property right granted by the US government that lets the owner exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention in the United States for a limited time. In exchange, the invention is disclosed to the public when the patent is published.

The application must name the actual inventors. Since 2012 an assignee, such as the company the inventors work for, can file as the applicant, but the true inventors are still named on the patent.

Utility patents cover a new, nonobvious and useful process, machine, article of manufacture or composition of matter, or an improvement of any of them. Design patents protect the ornamental design of a product, and plant patents cover asexually reproduced plant varieties.

You cannot patent laws of nature, natural phenomena or abstract ideas, and literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works are protected by copyright instead. The invention must also be described well enough for someone skilled in the field to make and use it, and claimed in clear and definite terms.

The right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the patented invention in the US while the patent is in force. You decide who may use it, and you can license or sell that right.

A patent does not by itself give you the right to make your product, because someone else's patent may cover part of it. That is a separate freedom-to-operate question.

A utility patent generally lasts 20 years from the filing date of its earliest non-provisional application, as long as the maintenance fees are paid. A design patent lasts 15 years from the date it is granted, with no maintenance fees.

The year a provisional application is pending does not count toward the 20 years, and the term can be extended for some USPTO delays.

A utility patent often takes 2 to 3 years from filing to a decision (about 29 months on average in 2026, per USPTO data, with the first examiner action at about 20 months). A provisional application can be filed quickly to secure patent pending status while you keep building.

Read how long a patent takes.

Plan on 2 to 3 years from filing to a decision, as with other utility applications. Many software applications draw at least one office action on whether the claims are more than an abstract idea, which a well-drafted application anticipates.

Prioritized examination can shorten the wait for an added USPTO fee. Read how long a software patent takes.

Yes. The USPTO's prioritized examination (Track One) aims for a final decision within about 12 months of being granted that status, for an added USPTO fee and with limits on the number of claims.

A rush filing at the firm speeds up drafting and filing, not USPTO examination. Ask on your strategy call whether either fits your timeline.

No. Patents are territorial, so a US patent gives rights only in the United States. You file in each country or region where you want protection.

One international PCT application, filed within 12 months of your first filing, keeps your right to seek patents in 159 member countries. It does not grant a patent itself. Each country examines the application when it enters the national phase, usually 30 or 31 months from your first filing.

Patents reward inventors with a limited period of exclusive rights, which makes it worth investing in new products. In return, every patent is published, so the knowledge spreads and others can build on it or design around it instead of reinventing the wheel.

For a business, a patent is an asset investors can see and a way to stop competitors from copying a key feature.

A filing with the USPTO that secures an early filing date and gives you patent pending status, without formal claims, an inventor's oath or an information disclosure statement. It is never examined and never becomes a patent on its own, and "provisional patent" is common shorthand for it.

You must file a non-provisional application within 12 months to keep the date. Provisionals work for utility inventions only, since a design patent application cannot claim a provisional's date. Read what a provisional patent application is.

No. The 12-month window cannot be extended. If you miss it by up to 2 months and the delay was unintentional, a petition to restore the benefit of the provisional may be possible, for a USPTO fee.

Otherwise the provisional's date is lost, and a new filing gets a new date. Read about the provisional patent timeline.

It means an application, provisional or non-provisional, has been filed and not yet granted or abandoned. It warns copiers that a patent may issue, but it gives no right to sue until the patent is granted.

Using "patent pending" when no application is on file is false marking. Read what patent pending means.

Yes. Once your application is on file you can make, sell, license and market the product, and mark it "patent pending". Your filing date already protects your place in line against later filers.

Not until the patent is granted. Once it issues, you can sue for infringement from the grant date, and if your application was published and the copier had actual notice of it, you may also recover a reasonable royalty for the period before grant when the issued claims are substantially the same.

This is one reason to file early and keep the application moving.

A non-provisional application is usually published about 18 months after your earliest filing date, so competitors can read it then. A provisional is never published on its own, but it becomes available if a published application or patent claims its date.

You can ask the USPTO not to publish if you will never file abroad. Read are provisional patents public.

Put the word "patent" or "pat." and the patent number on the product, or use virtual marking, a label pointing to a web page that lists the product and its patents. Marking matters because without it you may only recover damages from the date the infringer was given actual notice.

Read about virtual patent marking.

USPTO fees that keep a utility patent in force, due 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 years after grant. Miss one and, after a 6-month grace period with a surcharge, the patent expires. Design patents have no maintenance fees.

The amounts are set by the USPTO and depend on your entity size. Read about IP renewals.

Usually by the patent owner, starting with a letter and, if needed, a lawsuit in federal court. A court can stop infringement and award damages, but watching the market, spotting infringers and acting against them is the patent owner's job.

See patent litigation for how the firm handles disputes.

Yes. US trademark rights come from use, and three consecutive years of non-use is presumed abandonment. Keep using the mark as registered, on the goods or services listed, and keep proof of that use for your maintenance filings.

Read trademark use it or lose it.

Watching new USPTO filings and the market for marks that could be confused with yours, so you can act early. After an application is published there are only 30 days to oppose it or ask for more time.

Weekly trademark monitoring is included in every IP plan. Read these tips on policing trademark rights.

You can oppose the application within 30 days of its publication, or ask for more time, and a conflicting mark that is already registered can be challenged with a petition to cancel. Both are decided by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Read what to do when someone registers a trademark like yours.

Copyright is the set of rights creators have over their original works, from books, music, paintings and films to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps and technical drawings. It protects the expression, not the idea behind it.

Literary works such as novels, poems, plays, reference works and articles; computer programs and databases; films, music and choreography; artistic works such as paintings, drawings, photographs and sculpture; architecture; and advertisements, maps and technical drawings.

Copyright protects the expression, not the idea, procedure, method of operation or mathematical concept behind it, and names, titles and short slogans are not protected. The US Copyright Office registers works and publishes its guidance at copyright.gov.

The exclusive right to reproduce the work, adapt it, distribute copies and perform or display it publicly, and to license those rights to others. Registration is required before you can sue over a US work, and registering early makes statutory damages and attorney's fees possible.

In the US, moral rights, such as the right to claim authorship and to object to changes that harm your reputation, apply only to certain works of visual art. Many other countries give them to all authors.

Trademark it. Copyright does not protect names, titles or short slogans, while a trademark protects the name customers know your business by. A logo can have both, copyright in the artwork and a trademark in its use as your brand.

Read do you copyright or trademark a name.

Under US law, a trade secret is any business, financial, engineering, scientific or technical information that gets its value from not being generally known and that its owner keeps secret through reasonable measures, such as source code, formulas, customer lists and processes. Read these trade secret examples.

It depends on whether the invention can be kept secret. A patent protects you even if a competitor discovers the invention on its own, but it is public and lasts a fixed term. A trade secret can last indefinitely, but it is lost if the information leaks or someone reverse engineers it.