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- I'm Tom Galvani, a patent and trademark lawyer in Phoenix, Arizona. I help inventors, entrepreneurs, and businesses develop and control their intellectual property. I host this site and the blog on it to give you an idea of the services I provide and to keep you updated on current developments and helpful information related to patents, trademarks, and copyright.
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Tag Archives: patent FAQ
Public Disclosure and Filing a Patent Application
Your ability to file and obtain a patent depends on many things. The novelty and non-obviousness of the invention may be foremost in your mind. However, other things are influential as well, such as the skill of the patent attorney … Continue reading
What is an effective filing date?
What is an effective filing date? If you”ve done some reading about patents, you may have seen references to an “effective filing date.” For instance, while patent attorneys will often shorthand an explanation of patents by saying they offer protection … Continue reading
Posted in Patent
Tagged effective filing date, filing date, patent application, patent FAQ
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How to Patent an Idea
Sorry, you can’t. You can’t patent just “an idea.” It isn’t allowed by the law. Patents are granted only for things, processes, machines, manufactured articles, inventions. Abstract ideas and theories, alone, cannot be patented. Recent Supreme Court law just … Continue reading
Patents Explained: Claims
At last, the claims! The heart of the patent! Appropriately bringing this series of explanatory posts to an end, the claims conclude a patent. A patent can have one claim or many; generally, though, they’ve got 20 or less because … Continue reading
Patents Explained: the Detailed Description
Next in my series of posts, a topic probably deceiving the pithy label recently given: the detailed description. This eponymous section of a patent actually needs more explanation than one might garner from its name alone: the detailed description goes … Continue reading
Patents Explained: Description of the Drawings
Continuing the post series explaining patents, we now address the drawing descriptions. The description of the drawings is just that. It refers to each drawing by number and explains what the drawing is. The description is brief – it isn’t … Continue reading
How to Protect your Invention with a Patent
I’ve posted a basic description of the patenting process, from inventing to maintaining the patent. The video is a visual explanation of how an invention forms, how the patent application is prepared, filed, and processed, and what to do when … Continue reading

