The Patent Guide: A Friendly Handbook for Protecting and Profiting from Patents

With simple forms and practical advice on how to make money from inventions, this book clearly explains what can be patented, how patent protection works, and how foreign rights are obtained. Included are details on dealing with invention brokers, lawyers, and agents, and licensing patents and starting a business.

Indispensable to any would-be inventor, these pages explain exactly how to move an idea from your head to the drawing board to the marketplace.

With simple forms and practical advice on how to make money from inventions, this book clearly explains what can be patented, how patent protection works, and how foreign rights are obtained. Included are details on dealing with invention brokers, lawyers, and agents, and licensing patents and starting a business.

Library Journal

Despite occasional lapses into legal speak (e.g., "antecedent basis," "licensed for valuable consideration"), patent attorney and author Battle's (Smart Maneuvers, LJ 12/94) new work reads easily and well. Geared toward the businessperson and individual inventor, this overview takes the reader from inception to patent drafting, follows an application through the Patent Office, shows how to select legal representation if needed, and concludes with information on infringement procedures, foreign protection options, and licensing and marketing an invention. Because some areas may be covered a bit too briefly, readers will still need to refer to more detailed self-help publications like David Pressman's Patent It Yourself (Nolo, 1997) for in-depth guidance. Nevertheless, this book answers the kinds of questions its intended audience is asking. It also includes forms, checklists, cost-saving suggestions, and a strong focus on commercializing a new product. Recommended for all collections serving the inventor community.Johanna Johnson, Dallas P.L.

Carl W. Battle is senior vice president and chief patent counsel for GlaxoSmithKline, a global pharmaceutical company. He has served as president of the New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association and as a director with the American Intellectual Property Law Association Scholarship Fund. He has written several self-help legal and business books, including the bestselling Legal Forms for Everyone (Allworth Press). He lives in Sarasota, Florida.