Drafting and filing a patent application is a time consuming process and takes skill. However, there are many books (including the Complete Patent Kit) which can assist you in this process.

This section of Ypatent contains useful links to help you in drafting a patent application. The links are meant to supplement “The Complete Patent Kit, Third Edition”. 

Plant Patents:

The United States has a plant protection system but most countries (e.g., Europe) it is not possible to have a patent on a variety of plant in itself. 

This is a type of patent issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that protects a distinct and new variety of plant that has been asexually reproduced.

In the United States, new plant varieties can be protected through three types of intellectual property (IP): plant patents, utility patents, and plant variety protection. Additionally, plant breeders can also protect information of value 

Plant Variety Protection: 

The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) is an international treaty that provides protection for new plant varieties, and the US is a member.

UPOV PRISMA (over 70 countries covered, including USA; part of WIPO)

USDA Plant Variety Protection (The Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides intellectual property protection in the form of plant variety protection certificates to breeders of new varieties of seeds, tubers, and asexually propagated plants. The certificates protect varieties for 20 years (25 years for vines and trees).

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): 

As discussed in the Complete Patent Kit, the PCT allows an applicant/inventor to file say a provisional or US patent application and then within 12 months file a PCT application (typically in the local office) and then within 30 months enter all of the designated countries (e.g., US, Europe, China, Japan, etc) that the applicant wants to obtain protection. Accordingly the PCT allows an applicant an additional 18 months from that 12 months from when the PCT application is filed to make decisions such as whether or not the invention might be patentable (because searches will be done in the PCT) before spending a lot of fees on prosecuting the application in all the designated countries. 

How to file your PCT Applicaiton

ePCT filing software (this software is recommended for filing your PCT as it has a lot of checking capabilities) Users using ePCT can log into the system with their WIPO account. See ePCT user guide for how to create a WIPO user account.