Patents

Patent Applications

Our Utah patent attorneys and patent agents can help you prepare, file and presecute US patent applications on mechanical, electrical and software-based inventions.  

We have prepared and filed hundreds of patent applications, including utility patents, design patents, and PCT patent applications.  A list of recently issued patents is available here.  We offer all of clients cost-effective, expeditious RESULTS-ORIENTED REPRESENTATION.®  If you are a small business or sole inventor, we can advise you on strategies for protecting your intellectual property, including supplmenting patents or pending patents with trademarks and protective contracts.  Our patent attorney travel regularly to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Virginia to prosecute US patent applications.  Steven Rinehart is a licensed attorney in Virginia, and travels to Virginia for clients every few weeks.  In many cases, our patent attorney can prepare a patent application on an expedited schedule, file it, and push it through the patent office for only a fraction of the cost of larger firms.  Currently, only about a fourth of patent applications filed in the US every issue, in part because inventors cannot afford the cost paying traditional patent firms over the two to three year period a patent is pending.  It is common for larger firms, who charge hourly, to vastly underestimate the number of hours they intend to bill a client until after the client has paid a retainer and assumed responsibility for the bill.  We can offer clients a flat fee for the prosecution of the patent application to ensure representation is secured throughout the pendency of the patent application.

International Patent Applications

We can help you file international patent applications (PCT patent applications), and secure patents in most of the countries of the world.  The countries of the world in which we may be able to help you secure patents are shown in the table below.

Examples of Our Work

Types of Patent Applications

Provisional Patents.  In the U.S., a provisional patent is a simplified patent application that reserves the right of its inventor to file a utility application for one year. In a sense, it protects an invention temporarily for one year

Utility Patents. A utility patent is by far the most common type of patent applied for and issued. A utility patent application can be drafted to protect any human-made chemical, machine, device, system, computer program, or method or doing or making almost anything.

Design Patents. A design patent protects an ormamental design of a useful item (the way something looks). Cars, shoes, rings and computer icons are all examples. The application process is simple relative to other applications.

PCT Patents. Under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), inventors can often obtain patent protection in foreign countries if a PCT application is filed with an international receiving office within one year of the first domestic patent filing.

Recently Issued Patents by Rinehart

Improvised Adjustable Guide Rod For Semiautomatic Pistols
Doorframe Jig and Method
Multi-Function Ukulele Chord Wheel
Exercise Ring
Handheld, Integrated Multifunction Shovel
Motorhome with Onboard Touring Car, Elevator, and Crew Cabin
Detachable Shoe Protector
Computer Implemented Semantic Search Methodology, System and Computer Program Product for Determining Information Density in Text
Apparatus, System and Method for Composite and Symmertrical Hybrid Electronic Connectors
Compact Portable Auger Rack for Single-Operator Function
Interchangeable Transmission Cradle Attachment for Lift Jack 
Tamper-Resistant Emergency Medication Reserve Repository
Hydraulically-Actuated Horizontal Flush-Cut Radio Concrete Saw and Trip Hazard Removal Method
Bi-Fuel and Dual-Fuel Automotive Combustible Gas Detection Apparatus and Method
Golf Swing Training Apparatus
Method, System and Computer Program Product for Management of Roping Contestant Entries
Locking Electrical Socket
Economic Means of Aspirating a Fuel Combustion Engine with Non-Atmospheric Gases to Produce a Subsequently Useful Byproduct
Means of Processing Fuel Grade Petroleum Coke for Use in Internal Combustion Engines
Convective Dissolution of Salts in Situ Ponds
Means for Directing a Caller Through and Interactive Voice Response System and of Making Use of Prerecorded Precategorized Scripts
Enterprise System and Computer Program Product for Inter-Connecting Multiple Parties in an Interactive Environment Exhibiting Virtual Picture Books
Apparatus, System and Method for Stepper Motor Stall Detection
Apparatus and Method for Securement of Two-Dimensional Bar Codes with Geometric Symbology