Understanding Simple Inventions: Tips for Securing Patents on Basic Ideas (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to another edition of Inventors Quick Tips. Today we are discussing the topic of simple inventions. And I'd like to start by showing you the simplest invention I ever wrote of as a patent application. So basically here it is. It's an elastic band shown here as 105 and it has a label on it shown as 410. So that's really basic but there is a little more to it. The label is stitched at the top indicated as 415 and the label is not attached to the elastic band at the bottom but it has an internal weight indicated at 445. So what's the purpose of this thing anyway? This invention was intended to secure a towel on a chair in an outdoor setting such as at the beach or a pool. Now as you'll note in a beach chair the seat back 553 is typically reclined. A user might place a towel 555 over the seat back and then secure it with the elastic band 100. But the inventor has identified a problem with this and let's see what that problem is and how it got solved. As you see with the invention the sign or label 410 hangs vertically. Why was this important to the inventor? So when a person walking on the beach approaches the rear of the chairs the sign hangs down being more visible to an observer behind the chair as compared to if it didn't hang down and was at an angle. The inventor envisioned advertising applications where on a crowded beach these towel bands could be used to make many advertising impressions of a product that otherwise may not be visible. And the patent was granted as this design was considered by the patent office to be novel. So what are the takeaways from this? First an invention does not have to be complex in order to be patentable. It does have to be considered to be novel and non-obvious but there is no rule that states it needs a particular level of complexity. However in my experience I have found there to be some challenges with very simple inventions in terms of getting patents for them. So for a simple invention I try to include a lot of details about how it is assembled and used, what kinds of materials and methods of manufacture, whatever may apply in a particular situation. You definitely want to include alternative embodiments, different arrangements as applicable to the invention. You really want to drive home the advantages of this invention. What's its purpose? Who does it help? What does it prevent? Etc. Now all these things listed here are good to do for any invention but for a simple invention these things become even more important. Why? In my experience when an invention is very simple there is a higher chance it could be considered obvious by the patent office. So the patent application should be written to build a strong case for why it isn't obvious and why even though it's a simple concept no one has previously thought to do it and the invention provides a meaningful result or advantage over the prior art. So hopefully you found this video helpful. If so, please like, share and subscribe and thanks for watching.