USPTO Patent Agent Services
Specialized in IC Design Patents
and Software Patents
251 Via Naretto
Morgan Hill, CA 95037, USA
☎ 408-706-5988

✉ grouwstra@icswpatent.com

Invention Disclosure and Patent Proposal Form

This form allows you to disclose your invention, and provide information that can help justify the investment required to obtain a patent.

Information provided to a US-registered patent lawyer or agent is legally protected under client-attorney privilege, which means that lawyer or agent must keep the information confidential from third parties. However, the patenting process itself entails publishing the patent application and any resulting patents, as well as all communication on record at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO, under law, is responsible for such publications. If you do not wish that your invention is ever published, keeping it as a trade secret may offer you an alternative to patenting.

To protect your invention, please do not communicate, demonstrate, or offer it for sale to any third parties before a patent application has been filed.

Administrative Information

Descriptive provisional title of the invention:

Inventors (copy and fill out block for each inventor—list the main inventor first):

Name as in passport:	xx

Email:	xx

Full home address (no PO box!):	xx

Work phone:	xx

Home phone:	xx

Nationality (country):	xx

Business Unit or Division Manager:	xx

Background of the Invention

What area of application or technology is your invention related to?

In what other (broader) areas could your invention be applied?

Describe the problem that your invention addresses:

How was the problem dealt with by others, and what were the advantages and disadvantages of their solutions?

What advantages and disadvantages will your solution offer?

How does your invention give your organization a competitive advantage?

Have you simulated or prototyped your invention? When (start date, end date)?

Has it been disclosed outside of your organization? If yes:

To whom?

When?

Under Non-Disclosure Agreement?

List any publications and/or patents related and relevant to your invention, that you are aware of (note - you do not need to search. However, if you find relevant documents prior to having a patent granted (not merely applied), please provide an update of the list.)

The Disclosure

The inventor's disclosure is an important input document for a patent practitioner. Guidelines:

You don't need to write a disclosure that looks like a patent, or that has patent lingo in it. It is much better if you write in plain understandable English.

If you use highly specialized terms, or maybe some names you coined yourself, please define them at the start of your disclosure.

The best disclosure is based on a series of drawings. Sketch the drawings by hand (no color!), then number and scan them. Write your disclosure by explaining the drawings.

Avoid spending a large amount of time on writing the disclosure. Make a concise first draft, then discuss with your patent practitioner. He or she will tell you where additional information may be needed.

At the end you may add a bulleted list in which you write what you believe to be novel about your invention.

You may include the disclosure in this form (start on the next page) or supply it as a separate document.

Inventor Disclosure

(Provide here or as separate document. See guidelines above. Attach drawings as separate file.)