a problem on applying for patent
I'm in the process of applying for patent where I work.
I'm an engineer. I prepare for applying for patent with some idea.
Decisions are made that my idea could be a patent.
So company give a work to an attorney agent to process this.
But there is a problem.
My idea is kind of program so it has some mathematical formulas. However, the the attorney agent couldn't understand bunch of it.
Because I am not a teacher, I have no idea to make them understood this.
I know attorney agent was not majored in math but I need to applying this patent.
Please give me a some idea to solve this problem.
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Some patent attorneys are engineers and if your application is highly technical then you also want a highly technical attorney who can draft a strong patent. – Frenchie 11 years ago
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You need to consult a technically savvy patent attorney. There are a lot that specialize in software patents but they cost a small mint sometimes. But if you're going to go through the hassle of patenting something you may as well pay a little more. It will prevent a denial and refilling fees anyway and make it easier to enforce. – Randy E 11 years ago
2 Answers
Because the patent agent is key to drafting the claims and shepherding the application through the necessary patent office, depending on how critical the protection is, you may need to bite the bullet and hire a more expert attorney. However, I'd point out that software patents are alwayws problematic. IBM paved the way but there is still significant controversy and some jurisdictions flat out refuse (eg China). If your firm doesn't have a good reason for the patent strategy (prevent competitors, use for valuation, signal to potential investors, etc) then I'd advise ask serious thinking whether the protection can be gained in a more natural manner, eg trade secret or Platform as a Service where you don't need to disclose the proprietary nature.
Most groups avoid patenting or copyrighting software because it requires publication of source code. Once your code is "in the wild" you have little control of it on the international market. Getting a patent on software is difficult because of the non-obvious threshold and determining specific claims within source code.
Harvard has a quick read on software copyright vs patents: http://otd.harvard.edu/inventions/ip/software/compare/ You can typically get what you need with the software licensing model that you employ along with trade secrets.
However, the first thing you need is a better IP attorney. If the attorney isn't understanding things, then your patent application will be weak and won't survive examination.
