A number of major patent firms outsource the composition of patent applications to third-parties in other countries. A number of foreign countries are not signatories to the intellectual property accords that bind agents registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and therefore the privacy of your patent application may be at risk. Patents Etcetera will never outsource the production of your patent application.

Types of Applications

1. Provisional

           Since June 8, 1995, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has offered inventors the option of filing a provisional application for patent which was designed to provide a lower-cost first patent filing in the United States. Applicants are entitled to claim the benefit of a provisional application in a corresponding non-provisional application filed not later than 12 months after the provisional application filing date.
           Under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) , the corresponding non-provisional application would benefit in three ways: (1) patentability would be evaluated as though filed on the earlier provisional application filing date, (2) the resulting publication or patent would be treated as a reference under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) as of the earlier provisional application filing date, and (3) the twenty-year patent term would be measured from the later non-provisional application filing date.
           Thus, domestic applicants are placed on equal footing with foreign applicants with respect to the patent term. Inventors may file U.S. provisional applications regardless of citizenship. Note that provisional applications cannot claim the benefit of a previously filed application, either foreign or domestic.

2. Utility

           An application for a utility patent is one that describes any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement, thereof.

3. Design

           An application for a design patent is for an invention that describes a new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.

4. Plant

            An application for a plant patent describes an invention or discovery for asexual reproduction of any distinct and new variety of plant.

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For the Inventor




          Acetaminophen was derived from Papa-amino-phenol, which was used to reduce fever in the 1800’s. Phenacetin, a less toxic analogue of papa-amino-phenol, was discovered to be not only an anti-pyretic, but also an analgesic. In 1949, it was discovered that this molecule was converted in the body into what we now know as acetaminophen. Since that discovery, acetaminophen has been used as the non-aspirin pain reliever of choice.
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