Innovation is one of the hot topics in business circles
Many entrepreneurs want to take advantage of the entrepreneurial mindset to create products and services that will revolutionize the market. Some even call innovation a core component of business. Unfortunately, too often, businesses focus on a singular definition of innovation, seeing innovation through the narrow lens of a patent. By following this narrow view of innovation, companies limit their ability to create new products or services, while potentially setting themselves up for failure.
Innovation can mean many different things, but it typically refers to a new product or process that adds value to human society. While many innovations are purely technological in nature, many innovations are also technological in nature but do not necessarily add value to the marketplace in a significant way. Most innovations are therefore categorized as either utility patents, which cover a specific use of a product, or design patents, which protect aesthetic designs. While innovations can technically fall into one of these categories, they most often do both, redefining entire markets overnight.
Patented innovations are important because they allow the individual inventor to profit off of their creation. An inventor gains a financial reward for bringing a new product or technology to the public. The USPTO caters to many requests for patent extensions and oppositions by both parties. In the case of commercial innovations, the USPTO serves as a third party to the innovator, allowing them to seek protection on multiple fronts. The invention then needs to demonstrate to the USPTO and a judge that it would indeed bring benefit to the public if granted a patent.