What Type of Patent Would a Medical Device Come Under? Medical invention protection would qualify using a utility patent, as it would be a "new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof." This is per USPTO What are the different types of patents? Utility patents cover the sorts of thing most people usually think would be covered by patents. A general invention, machine, process,whatever. Design patents protect certain designs in manufacturing or building, based on the unique appearance of the item. Plant patents protect certain types of plants  How Long Does it Take to Get a Patent? 2-4 years. However this varies

How Long Does a Patent Protection of a Medical Device Last? Most Medical Devices would be a utility patents. Utility patents are granted for a term which begins with the date of the grant and usually ends 20 years from the date the applications were filed. You must make the timely payment of the appropriate maintenance fees.  Design patents last 14 years from the date you are granted the patent. No maintenance fees are required for design patents. How Does the FDA Define a Medical Device? "an instrument, apparatus, implement, machine, contrivance, implant, in vitro reagent, or other similar or related article, including a component part, or accessory which is: -recognized in the official National Formulary, or the United States Pharmacopoeia, or any supplement to them, -intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, in man or other animals, or -intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals, and which does not achieve any of it's primary intended purposes through chemical action within or on the body of man or other animals and which is not dependent upon being metabolized for the achievement of any of its primary intended purposes. http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/default.htm

How do I conduct a patent search to make sure no one else has a similar medical device? You can search here: http://patft.uspto.gov/  Attorneys and agents will also be able to help you  What's a provisional patent?  Introduced in 1995, provisional patents were "designed to provide a lower-cost first patent filing in the United States entitled to claim the benefit of a provisional application in a corresponding non-provisional application filed not later than 12 months after the provisional application filing date."  What are the advantages of provisional patents? 1) It establishes an official United States patent application filing date 2) It permits one year’s authorization to use "patent pending" notice in connection with the invention 3) It has an initial lower initial cost with one full year to assess the invention’s commercial potential before committing to the higher cost of filing and prosecuting a non-provisional application for patent