You don’t need a patent IF….

At Central Coast Patent Agency, our mission is to create a valuable patent for every invention that a client entrusts to us. And we make our living doing that, and doing it well.

But there are several circumstances where patent protection may be unnecessary:

• You might not wish to perfect ownership of rights to an invention. If your goal is to solve a problem or an unmet need for the benefit of the public at large, you need not file a patent application. However, even in this circumstance a patent may be advisable because
• If you do not file and get a patent, someone else may, and then they control the use of the invention
• If you perfect the patent, then you can govern the distribution of rights to the patent, and you need not charge
• Patent protection is needed if the practice of your invention would inform others of how to practice the invention. For example, if you invent a new sort of sheet metal shearing tool, and you build and sell this tool, a person buying the tool may reverse engineer the tool, and manufacture their own version.
• Patent protection is NOT needed if it is not possible for the public at large to reverse engineer your invention. Your invention may be, for example, an ointment for a skin condition, the ointment having a large number of ingredients that would be difficult or impossible for a third party to discover from having a tube of your ointment. If they cannot copy, no need for a patent. This is true in most cases of recipes for foodstuff, condiments, and flavorings.