Consumer products are easy to copy once they hit the shelf. We help inventors and brands protect both how a product works and how it looks, ideally before launch.
Consumer inventions are often a mix of function and appearance. We protect:
Many consumer products benefit from two layers of protection: a utility patent for how the product works and a design patent for how it looks. Together they make it much harder for a competitor to sell a close copy.
Most consumer products inventions draw on one or more of the patent types we prepare:
Consumer products move quickly from prototype to marketplace, and copies can follow within months. We help you time filings around launch, crowdfunding and trade shows, and we look at both utility and design protection so that a competitor cannot simply restyle your product and sell it.
Tell us about your invention in a Complimentary Patent Needs Assessment. We’ll tell you honestly whether it’s patentable, what it would take to protect it, and what it would cost.
Get a Complimentary Patent Needs AssessmentA utility patent protects how a product works. A design patent protects how it looks. Many consumer products benefit from both, since they protect different things.
Yes, but file first if you can. Once you have at least filed a provisional application you can mark the product "patent pending." Selling or publicly showing the product before filing starts the one-year US grace period and can bar patents in most other countries.
It means you have filed a patent application that has not yet been granted. It does not give you enforceable rights by itself, but it tells competitors that protection may be coming.
A provisional application holds your filing date for 12 months, but it never becomes a patent on its own. You need to file a non-provisional application within that year to keep the date.
Costs depend on how complex the product is and whether you pursue utility, design or both. We provide a specific estimate after a Complimentary Patent Needs Assessment.
