Q: Can I patent a baby booster seat?

A: The simple answer is yes, if you have a new or inventive improvement over the baby seats that have come before. Most patents are for improvements rather than completely new fields of inventions. You need to talk with a patent professional to help you decide whether your invention is likely to receive patent protection.

A: It falls within the regulations of what can and cannot be patented. So yes, baby booster can be patented.

You could apply for the DESIGN (ornamental appearance) of your seat as well as a Utility Patent for the seat itself. Filing a patent can be very expensive. I would strongly advise you to have a prior art search done either through a patent agent/attorney as the first step to make sure that your invention would be novel when compared to other baby booster seats.

I would also give you caution as to disclosure of your invention. If an invention has been disclosed for more than one year it is ineligible for patenting. Inventors have this time to "test the market." There is also what is referred to as a Provisional Patent. These are what you find in books of "patent pending in 24 hours" ilk. Previously, a provisional patent was a way to gain an extra year of disclosure to test the market. However, the landscape has changed since the passage of the America Invents Act. The AIA changed patent eligibility from "first to invent" to "first to file." Theoretically, you could testing the market within your one year period, and another could file a patent for your invention. It would then be through costly administrative procedures, including filing suit in Federal Court, to prove your prior inventorship. But having a provisional patent sets YOUR first to file date.

My strong suggestion is to speak with a patent attorney and have them go through all this in detail.

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