February 2022

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Business

The International Patent Classification

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The International Patent Classification, referred to as the IPC, is a system which attempts to categorize into a hierarchical order of subject area the entire body of technological knowledge. The IPC is regularly revised to keep abreast with new fields of technology. It is administered by WIPO and is available (partly) in print and (fully) on the Internet in English and in French. Recognized universally and used by over 100 countries, the IPC has become the lingua franca of patent classification.

Objective

The IPC was created to facilitate access to technological and legal information in patent documents. In this function it serves as an effective tool in investigating the state of the art in a particular field, and in searching prior art pertinent to a particular invention as explained on how to get a patent with InventHelp.

Structure

The IPC is structured hierarchically, with eights main, broad categories, each branching out into several, narrower categories. These second tier categories then branch out themselves into several, yet narrower, third tier categories, and the branching repeats in this manner through two more tiers. The number of entries in the IPC thus grows exponentially and exceeds 70,000 at the fifth and last tier of the hierarchy.

IPC categories are designated a symbol consisting of a sequence of alphanumerical characters, and given a title that indicates the subject matter encompassed by it. Category titles reflect their position in the hierarchy; main category titles employing broad, general terms, while dependent-category titles become progressively specific and precise with each hierarchical tier. Read more about it – patent my invention through InventHelp.

Business

Attorney Effort in Preparing a Patent Application

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The amount of time it takes an attorney to prepare a provisional application varies. The simplest application, requiring the least effort, is at one end of the spectrum. With this type of provisional application, the attorney simply takes the inventor’s existing disclosures and descriptions, formats them into a provisional application format, and files them as a provisional application. The client’s costs are reduced as a result.

At the other end of the spectrum, an attorney can put in nearly the same amount of effort as he or she would in preparing a complete patent application. It’s possible that one or more patent claims will be included. While this raises costs, it reduces the chance that the provisional application will be unable to support a later, complete, non-provisional application. At the far end of the range, some businesses file provisional applications. For this reason, it is advisable to hire the professionals, such as patent service InventHelp.

It goes without saying that applications prepared with more attorney effort will cost more, but they will also reduce the risk of later problems. Provisional applications at any level of attorney effort can make sense depending on the client’s goals and expectations. What’s important is that the client understands what he or she is getting and what they aren’t getting from the start, so there are no unmet expectations later on.

There’s also the risk of using the provisional application incorrectly. When drafting claims, attorneys conduct a thorough examination of the invention. This analysis entails determining which essential component parts are at the heart of the invention, as well as which details of the invention should be described in the specification and illustrated in the drawings. It is possible that an element necessary to claim the invention precisely will not be sufficiently described and shown if this analysis is omitted to save the cost of the entire application. As the invention becomes more complex, the chances of this happening increase as explained on this article – how do you patent an idea with InventHelp.

If later information is deemed necessary to allow claims, but it is not included in the provisional application and is only included in a later filed non-provisional application, only the non-provisional application’s filing date will be effective. As a result, prior art will no longer be based on the provisional application’s earlier filing date, and its benefit will be lost.