Congratulations — you came up with a great idea or designed a new invention! Now you may be wondering, “should I file for a patent?”
Filing for a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is a great way to guard all your hard work, but there are rules to filing for this creative protection — in short, not everything can be patented.
A patent is a protection for your intellectual property, that is, the design or product you created. Patents keep others from replicating your work and selling it as their own, and also give you perks like the exclusive right to make and sell your product.
