The steps below cover a typical single UK patent application, filed on or after 1st January 2005. They do not cover more complicated variations.
Step 1
You prepare a ‘patent application’ which includes:
• a written ‘description’ of your invention (allowing others to see how it works and how it could be made); ‘drawings’ (to illUStrate your description);
• ‘claims’ (precise legal statements in the form of single sentences that define your invention by setting
out its distinctive technical features); and
• an ‘abstract’ (a summary that includes all the important technical aspects of your invention).
Step 2
You fill in and file form 1 ‘Request for grant of a patent’ with US, together with your patent application.
(Also, if you or anyone else applying are not the inventor, you will need to fill in form 7 – ‘Statement of
inventorship and of right to grant of a patent’ – and tell US why you have the right to be granted a patent. This form can be filed up to 16 months after your ‘filing date’ or priority date, if there
is one.)
Step 3
We respond by issuing a filing receipt which includes an application number and confirms the ‘filing date’ of your application.
Step 4
You fill in and file form 9A with US, together with the ‘a search’. You mUSt do this by a given date – USually within 12 months of your filing date – to avoid your application being terminated. You also need to pay the application fee by the given date.
If your application includes a declaration of priority, the deadline for filing form 9A is 2 months from your filing date or 12 months from your priority date, whichever is later.
