For most inventors, filing in Israel and in the United States are the most important options – and among the most affordable. Israeli professionals are authorized to file patent applications in the US as well.
What does “patent registration” mean?
Filing a patent application means submitting the application documents – after drafting – to the patent office of a specific country, or filing an international PCT application, and paying the filing fee. A patent is granted only after an examiner has examined the application and approved it.
A patent can be granted for an invention – a product or a process – that is new, useful, industrially applicable and involves an inventive step that is not obvious to a person skilled in the field. Discoveries, such as a new mineral or a mathematical formula, cannot be patented. Some subject matter, such as business methods or software as such, may be patentable in one country (in some cases in the US) but not in another (for example, generally not in Israel).
A granted patent is generally valid for up to 20 years from the filing date, provided the renewal fees are paid. In certain cases the term can be extended.
US provisional patent application
Since 1995 the US Patent and Trademark Office has offered the provisional application: a lower-cost first filing that secures a priority date. Within 12 months you must file a regular (non-provisional) application or a PCT application claiming that priority date.
- Drafting and filing costs are significantly lower than for a regular application.
- You may mark your product “Patent Pending”.
- A provisional application is not a patent and is never examined. Its value depends on what it discloses: an amateur provisional may fail to support the later application, so professional drafting is important.
“Express” filing: we can file a US application within 24 hours of receiving all materials, and a provisional or regular application within 48–72 hours. You receive the USPTO electronic filing receipt with the application number.
Regular application in Israel
Filing first in Israel is possible, in Hebrew, with a moderate filing fee. Some inventors choose it to secure protection with minimal early exposure.
Regular application in the United States
Most inventors – in Israel and in most other countries – choose the US for their first filing. The cost difference compared with Israel is small, and the US is a single, very large market.
PCT – international application
The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) allows you to postpone the decision on which countries to protect your invention in. A PCT application filed within the first year gives you additional time – generally up to 30 months from the priority date – before entering the national phase in each country. These deadlines are strict.
We file in most countries that are members of the Paris Convention and the PCT, through our colleagues around the world, and handle responses to examiners’ objections in Israel and abroad.
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