Patents

NEW YORK ATTOR­NEYS REP­RE­SENT­ING IN MAN­HAT­TAN, BROOK­LYN, BRONX AND LONG ISLAND

At DeTof­fol & Asso­ciates, in New York City, we rep­re­sent indi­vid­u­als and busi­nesses in all mat­ters relat­ing to patent law:

We con­duct domes­tic patent searches.
We pro­vide con­sul­ta­tion regard­ing patentabil­ity of inven­tions and rights to man­u­fac­ture them.
We pros­e­cute appli­ca­tions to obtain util­ity patents for new and use­ful inven­tions and to obtain design patents for new and orna­men­tal designs.
Lit­i­gate enforce and license patent rights
Our firm is led by lawyer David DeTof­fol, a United States patent attor­ney. With us you will under­stand the patent process, and avoid being taken by expec­ta­tions oth­ers may promise, or the patent sys­tem can’t deliver. Our expe­ri­ence is, you will have a bet­ter chance of suc­cess and be sat­is­fied with pro­fes­sional help that has your inter­est in mind.

Con­tact us to arrange a con­sul­ta­tion with an expe­ri­enced New York patent lawyer.

WHAT IS A PATENT?

A patent is an intel­lec­tual prop­erty right to have the monop­oly and exclu­sive right to man­u­fac­ture, import, use, sell or offer for sale the patented tech­nol­ogy, dur­ing a lim­ited time period within a coun­try. It is granted by a country’s gov­ern­ment. Oth­ers that make, use or offer for sale, or sell the same or an equiv­a­lent thing are con­sid­ered to infringe the patent.

Patent rights make it ille­gal for any­one except the owner or some­one with the owner’s per­mis­sion to make, use, import or sell the inven­tion in the coun­try where the patent was granted. Patents pro­tect the fea­tures and processes that make things work. This lets inven­tors profit from their inven­tions. Patents gen­er­ally cover prod­ucts or processes that con­tain “new” func­tional or tech­ni­cal aspects.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PATENTS

  • Be real­is­tic and aware of the types of patents avail­able and what they pro­tect: There are three types of patents — util­ity patent, plant patent and design patent. It is impor­tant to dis­tin­guish between these three types of patents, and avoid the wrong type of patent protection.
  • Know what you are get­ting for your money.Be on guard against large, up-ront fees charged by devel­op­ers and law firms. Ask how much will go towards mar­ket­ing, patent fil­ing and prepa­ra­tion fees.
  • Pro­tect your inno­va­tion, inven­tion, cre­ation and rights.DO NOT dis­close your mat­ters to oth­ers, includ­ing devel­op­ers or law firms with­out first sign­ing a con­fi­den­tial­ity agree­ment.You could for­feit valu­able rights by pub­licly dis­clos­ing the details of your claim or inven­tion before fil­ing a patent appli­ca­tion, or by delay­ing in tak­ing action within strict dead­line time periods.
  • Don’t get dis­cour­aged.Patent lit­i­ga­tion and the patent process can be very com­pli­cated. We are here when you need a rep­utable patent agent and attor­ney to help you through the process and ful­fill legal, sci­en­tific and tech­ni­cal requirements.
  • Patents are ter­ri­to­r­ial to each coun­try.The scope of pro­tec­tion may vary from coun­try to coun­try. The Paris Con­ven­tion exists toward the inter­na­tional pro­tec­tion of indus­trial prop­erty (patents, indus­trial designs, etc).

PATENT INFRINGE­MENT

Patent infringe­ment is only pos­si­ble in a coun­try where a patent is in force. For exam­ple, if a patent is filed in the United States, then any­one in the United States is pro­hib­ited from mak­ing, using, sell­ing or import­ing the patented item. Peo­ple in other coun­tries may be free to make the patented item in their country.

To con­tinue that exam­ple, action can be taken against those inno­va­tions if they were to be made, used, offered for sale or sold in the United States. Patent pro­tec­tion can also be enforced at our bor­ders by U.S. Cus­toms and Bor­der Pro­tec­tion by for­mal legal action we can bring in the United States Inter­na­tional Trade Commission.

HOW CAN WE HELP?

Please call our expe­ri­enced attor­neys in our New York City office at (212) 962−2220 to dis­cuss your patent case. You may also send us an e-mail At DeTof­fol & Asso­ciates, we work hard to pro­tect your intel­lec­tual prop­erty interests.