An AlaCarte Invention Report

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Edited Reports
Ghost Written Reports

I. What's and Invention Report and Why do I need one?

Patent Attorneys need lots of information to write a good patent application. The information they need is often in a form that clients are unfamiliar with and may not have readily available. There is only so much that an attorney can collect in a client interview. Also clients often have neither the time or inclination to provide all the information that is needed. For years large companies and attorneys have recommended that clients assemble their information into a particular format, called an Invention Report. A good report saves time and money for the client and results in a higher quality patent application.

We collect the information from the client using a standard template. The client has the option of writing the Invention Report themselves and having BML edit it, or they can provide the information to us, we will write the Invention Report and they can edit it.

A high Quality Invention Report that will help your patent attorney draft a high quality patent application. It will reduce .attorney time, your client time, and produce a higher quality patent application, which is more likely to be approved with less time in patent prosecution.

For a FREE sample invention report please fill in the form below. The password is Guest (case sensitive)

Details

An Invention report conveys key information from the inventor to the patent attorney or agent who prepares the patent application. I have 35 patents and in most every case the patent department of the large company where I worked required that I prepare an invention report which would be used by the patent department along with my personal comments to prepare the application. Most attorneys and agents work this way today.

Some attorneys will draft an application while you dictate information to them but this substitution for an Invention report, while quicker, allows for important information to be missed which can have important consequences later.

Also most often an Invention Report is written before a patent search is done, and that is like drafting it in the dark as very important information which should be supplied to distinguish the invention from what went before (The Prior Art) is often omitted.

At BML we help you prepare a high quality invention report that reflects what has been found in the search we did for you. If done properly it will save the attorney time, save you money in responding to patent office actions and avoid other mistakes that will delay the granting of your patent or worse put you at risk for not getting it.

We have some sample Invention Reports to see what they look like. Just click the link.

A. Edited Reports
BML will make suggestions and edit the text of each of the sections of the Invention Report. Those sections described in Section II.

B. Ghostwritten Reports
Should you choose Ghostwriting, BML will ghostwrite the Background and Description of the Invention sections of the report. It is important that the phantom claims be done as a co-operative venture so this section will not be ghostwritten.

II. Sections of the Report

1. Abstract:- This section is too short to merit a line item on the estimate. It will be done last after all other sections are written and its cost included in the other sections.

2. Background of the Invention:- This section consists of a description of the situation before the invention was made. and will include a listing of the prior art that bears upon the invention.

The patented prior art will be compiled from the key patents identified in the patent search report we prepared for you, titled: Client Company Search Report (**date**).

3. Description of the Invention:- The basic responsibility for preparing the description of the inventions lies with the inventor and will be reviewed by BML. A sample invention report has been provided to indicate what items should be addressed by the inventor in the Description. One effective method of writing this section is to start with the phantom claims and provide supporting information for each of them. At the same time the inventor should be mindful of the prior art and endeavor to show how the invention is superior to, or at least different from, the nearest prior art relating to a specific phantom claim.

BML will edit the inventor’s description to make sure it aligns with standard patent application practice and in particular that key legal issues are addressed, for example the requirement that each claim is covered by supporting material in this section.

We will also check to be sure the textual description of the figures aligns with the figures.

4. Figures:-
Patent figures are drafted according to a specific set of rules. Elements of the figures are numbered so that they can be referred to in the "Description of the Invention" section. For the invention report it will be sufficient to make sketches of the important elements of the patent to illustrate Description section and number them in any kind of consistent fashion. Figures are often extracted from prior art references and may be done so here with proper referencing.

BML provides drafting services included as line item 6, that will turn these sketches into drawings that will meet patent office requirements. Else this operation will probably be outsourced by the patent attorney to his drafting staff.

BML will check figures to against the text to make sure they are properly referenced and will also review them for clarity.

5. Phantom Claims will be drafted by the inventor in cooperation with and reviewed by BML. It is understood that the patent attorney will probably change the language of these phantom claims when writing the actual claims for the Patent Application.

It is reasonable to start with the set of patent claims from the Search Report and your revisions to them and then amend them in the initial meeting where we will discuss the implications of the prior art for the proposed claims. In this section we will emphasis the differences between your invention and the prior art .

Included in the editing process are all conversations by email and telephone relating to the drafting of each section The notes and information consolidated by BML will be stored on your folder at www.businessmetamorphosis.com. As this file matures, new versions will be issued and a version history included as the final item of the outline.

*AlaCarte is a division of BML.