The Application
If the search does not turn up any prior art that would prevent the patenting of the invention, the inventor may now decide to proceed with the preparation and filing of the patent application. The application will include the specification, the drawings and the claims. The specification is the portion of the application which lays out the details of the invention including the inventor's preferred embodiment and general information about the technical field of the invention and how the invention differs from existing devices. The claims are what set the legally described bounds of the invention. You could think f the claims as the outer edge of the property of your invention, similar to your own house where you may only be using part of your property (the invention's preferred embodiment) but cannot trespass on any part of your land even though you're not using it right now. Once the application is completed and is acceptable to both the inventor and the patent attorney, it is sent to the patent office to begin the next phase of the process.
The Prosecution
The next step in obtaining patent protection is known as "prosecuting the application," which is a fancy term that merely refers to working with the Patent Office to obtain patent rights. Once the patent office receives the application, it may take from six to twelve months before any response is received. The first response from the Patent Office is usually a rejection of the claims in the application, the most common ground for rejection being that the invention would have been obvious to one skilled in the art or that someone else has already invented the device. The inventor should not be overly concerned, however, as this response is often a procedural tactic to force the inventor to state with specificity the reasons why his or her invention is patentably different from the prior art cited by the Examiner at the Patent Office.
After the Patent and Trademark Office has responded with an initial rejection of some or all of the claims, the attorney and inventor must respond to the Examiner's Office Action by addressing the Examiner's rejections. The attorney, in consultation with the inventor, will prepare a response arguing that the Examiner's rejections are improper and patent protection should be granted to the inventor. If the examiner chooses not to accept the arguments put forth, he may again reject the claims, in which case another response must be prepared. In most instances, some degree of patent protection can be obtained even if there are very similar devices already out there, but there is a small chance that the Patent Office will not agree with our arguments. That situation can be dealt with should it arise. However, if as in most cases the examiner accepts our arguments, the application is approved and passed to issuance.
Issuance
Upon determining that the application is allowable, the Examiner sends the applicant a notification of allowance, and the applicant then submits the issuance fee. The patent is then issued.