Can You Patent Your Invention? Part One
This is a transcript of a podcast posted July 2, 2006.
 We’re speaking with patent attorney David Pressman, the author of the world’s best-selling guide Patent It Yourself as well as the co-author of other Nolo books, including Patent Pending in 24 Hours, The Inventor’s Notebook, How to Make Patent Drawings, and Nolo’s Patent’s for Beginners. This is the first installment of a two-part interview with David.
NOLO: David, we’re all familiar with stories about great inventors from the past who came up with great ideas, patented them, and made millions of dollars. But nowadays it seems like large corporations and universities dominate the world of patents. Is it still possible for an independent inventor to come up with something innovative and make money off of it?
DAVID PRESSMAN: Definitely. I think that about 30% of all patents are now still issued to inventors who have no assignee -- that means they haven’t assigned their invention to a corporation and, therefore, they’re small inventors. Most small businesses are still individually owned, and even one of Nolo’s authors, Jack Low, started a very big business where he’s very successful now, on his vertical mouse invention, by himself. I have several clients, one which makes insulating cups, another which makes shower mirrors, and they’re both individual inventors who have started businesses on their own.
NOLO: Another change since Thomas Alva Edison’s day has been that the patent system has become more complicated and more complex, yet you still maintain that a diligent inventor can prepare his or her own patent application. Tell us why you believe that inventors can prepare their own applications.
DAVID PRESSMAN: Yes, because the inventing process is still the same, and it’s actually much harder than the patent application filing and preparation process when you look at all the work involved. To get a patent you actually have to do some new things which inventors are not familiar with, but basically a patent application is just a detailed explanation of how to make and use the invention in conjunction with drawings, and then there’s a few forms and rules you have to follow, but I lay them all out in a checklist, and I think anybody who is smart enough to invent, to create something new, should be easily able to follow the instructions. You do have to be able to write a detailed description of your invention in conjunction with drawings, and frankly, not everybody can do that, but if you can do that, I think the rest is duck soup.
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