1. Prior Art Search: Though prior art search adds to the initial costs, if you conduct a thorough prior art search to identify existing patents and publications related to your invention, it will help you avoid filing a patent application for something not novel and/or non-inventive—it will save both time and money.
2. How Long is Your Patent Application: Always be vigilant that the draft of your patent application is not unnecessarily long. In India, 30 pages are allowed in a patent application without any additional cost, and if pages go beyond 30, you have to pay extra. So, always check if your application actually needs extra pages to describe your invention or not. If not, simply delete additional pages. This way you can save money on extra pages.
3. How Many Claims Your Invention Needs: Make sure that the claims of your patent application are written carefully and accurately. 10 claims are allowed in a patent application without any additional cost, and claims beyond 10 attract additional fee. So, always check how many claims are enough to protect your invention and don’t spend unnecessary money on extra claims.
4. Double-Check Inventor/Applicant Details: Error correction/amendment is chargeable, always double-check that the information used to prepare forms of your patent application is updated and correct.
5. Avoid Early Publication: If you go for ‘Request for Early Publication”, it will cost you extra. So, if you are not in a hurry to showcase that you have filed a patent application, let publication of your application happen itself, without any fee.
6. Avoid Expedited Examination: If you go for ‘Request for Expedited Publication”, it will cost you extra. So, if you are not in a hurry to get a decision on your patent application, let the examination of your patent application happen itself, without any fee.
7. Meet Deadlines: Every event during your patent filing journey is time-bound and if your response is late, you will have to bear an additional fee for delays. Therefore, always make sure that you, or your attorney, meet the patent office’s deadlines.
8. Review Your Response to Examination Report: If you are making a response to the examination report of your patent application, review it thoroughly and include every possible argument in it to avoid scheduling a hearing from the patent office.
9. Utilize Startup Schemes: If you qualify as a startup, you must avail the benefits of SIPP, which is 'startup intellectual property protection' scheme from the government of India. In this scheme, the government bears patent drafting and prosecution fees for DPIIT-certified startups.
10. Avoid Filing PCT Application: If you are an individual inventor and/or your prior art search revealed close prior art references, don't fall into the trap of international patent filing or PCT filing---it is a very costly affair.
The field of patent analysis/analytics has immense potential for high-paying jobs and freelancing opportunities. By honing your skills in prior art search and patent analytics, you can position yourself as a valuable asset in the engineering and science industries.
If you are excited about Prior Art Search and Patent Analytics and willing to explore career opportunities, I can train you.
I have developed specialized programs to crisply train with a good amount of hands-on experience in the field of prior art search and patent analytics. Let me tell you, sample prior art search and analytics tasks/assignments follow once you complete the online program, wherein I work together with my students and share feedback for their holistic learning.
I aim to enable my students to learn IP skills so that they are confident about the techniques essential for conducting prior art searches and patent analytics.
I am confident that after learning from my programs, students can rise above the FRESHER tag and apply confidently as other experienced applicants do, and easily onboard high-paying jobs (or start freelancing).
Not only I train you, but I’ll also assist you with job openings and setting up your freelancing.
Comments