Patenting Overview

<BODY BGCOLOR="#C0C0C0"> <CENTER><b>OVERVIEW OF THE PATENTING PROCESS</b><p></CENTER> A patent is an exclusive right of its owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention as defined in the claims of the patent for a period of time, which in the United States is 20 years from the date of filing the patent application. The typical process of obtaining a patent on an invention is shown here:<P> <A HREF="http://clever.net/cgi-bin/imagemap/colitz/flow.map"> <CENTER><IMG SRC="image/flow.gif" ALT="Patent Prosecution Flow" BORDER=0 WIDTH=472 HEIGHT=197 ISMAP></CENTER></A> <hr size=2><p> <center> <a href="disclose.htm">Inventor's Disclosure</a><BR> <a href="pasearch.htm">Patentability Search</a><BR> <a href="paprep.htm">Patent Application Preparation</a><BR> <a href="paexam.htm">Patent Application Examination</a><BR> <a href="paamend.htm">Patent Application Amendment</a><BR> <a href="patent.htm">Patent</a> </center> <hr size=2> <CENTER> <A HREF="index.htm"><IMG SRC="image/shared/b1.gif" WIDTH=113 HEIGHT=28 ALT="Home page" border=0></A> <A HREF="wacky.htm"><IMG SRC="image/shared/b3.gif" WIDTH=113 HEIGHT=28 ALT="Wacky Patents" border=0></A> <A HREF="links.htm"><IMG SRC="image/shared/b4.gif" WIDTH=113 HEIGHT=28 ALT="Inventor Links" border=0></A> <A HREF="searchws.htm"><IMG SRC="image/shared/b10.gif" WIDTH=113 HEIGHT=28 ALT="Search" border=0></A> <A HREF="contact.htm"><IMG SRC="image/shared/b6.gif" WIDTH=113 HEIGHT=28 ALT="Contact Us" border=0></A> </CENTER> <BR><BR><font size=1>Copyright 1995 Michael J. Colitz, Jr.</font> </BODY>