Not all patents are created equal, some are stronger than others. Strong patents can stop more competitors than weaker patents. How do you tell if a patent is strong or weak? How do you ask the patent office for a stronger patent?

Patent Strength

Let’s use a simple invention as an example. Say you invented a round blue cup. It’s a drinking cup that is round in shape and blue in color. Let’s also say for our example, that you’re the first person to invent a round blue cup and nobody else has ever invented a round blue cup. Since you’re the first person to invent this round blue cup, you file a patent application with the US Patent Office and ask for a nonprovisional patent. If the nonprovisional patent is approved, you’ll be the only person who can make round blue cups for 20 years.

However, what if a competitor makes a triangular blue cup? What if a competitor makes a round red cup? Can you stop that competitor? Most likely not, because your patent is for specifically a round blue cup and that’s not what your competitor made.

Now, let’s say instead of asking the patent office for a patent for a round blue cup, you ask the patent office for a patent for all cups, period. You tell the patent office you want a patent that can stop anyone from making any cup, regardless of the color and regardless of the shape. Now, if you get such a patent for all cups, then you could stop a competitor who makes round cups, triangular cups, blue cups, red cups, yellow cups, and all other variations.

This gives you an idea of patent strength. A patent for “a round blue cup” is weaker than a patent for “a cup”. The phrase “a round blue cup” is more specific, it is more narrow, than the general phrase “a cup”.

So which patent would you rather have?

Naturally, everyone would rather have a patent for “a cup” which covers all shapes and sizes than to have a patent for specifically “a round blue cup” which is limited to only cups of round shape and blue color.

The next question is, why would anyone ask the patent office for specifically a round blue cup and not all cups? Why would an inventor ask the patent office for a weaker patent than a stronger patent? The answer is that a stronger patent is harder to get than a weaker patent.

Stronger Patents are Harder to Get

A stronger patent is harder to get than a weaker patent because to get a patent, you must convince the patent office that you are the first person to invent such an invention. If you ask the patent office for a patent for a round blue cup, you only have to convince the patent office that you are the first person to invent specifically a round blue cup. So long as nobody else has invented a round blue cup, you will be granted a patent.

However, if you ask the patent office for a patent that covers all cups, regardless of its shape and size, you’ll have to convince the patent office that you are the first person to invent the cup, period. If the patent office can show that someone has already invented a cup of any shape or color before you made your cup, the patent office will reject your patent application. The patent office can reject you by finding evidence that someone already invented a round cup, a triangular cup, a red cup, a blue cup, or any cup.

You can see then, why it is easier to ask the patent office for a patent for a round blue cup than to ask the patent office for a patent for all cups of any color or size.

Patent Strength is Defined by Patent Claims

The strength of a patent is defined by the claims section of a patent application. It is where you ask the patent office for a patent covering a round blue cup or ask the patent office for a patent covering all cups of any shape or color. If the patent is approved, the claims also serve to tell the public how strong your patent is so competitors know what they cannot make. If competitors see your patent claims cover a round blue cup, competitors will know that they can still make triangular cups or yellow cups. However, if competitors see your patent claims cover all cups, competitors will know that they cannot make any cup of any shape or size. Your patent claims first tell the patent office how strong of a patent you want. Then, it tells competitors how strong your patent is so they know what they can or cannot make.

Patent claims are arguably the most important part of a nonprovisional patent application and also arguably the most difficult part to write. What parts of your invention should be written in the claims? How much or how little should be written in the claims? How strong of a patent should you ask the patent office for? These are strategic questions that you’ll want to go over with a patent attorney or patent agent in preparing a patent application.