Richmond, CA asked in Patents (Intellectual Property) for California

Q: Can you patent an idea?

I have an app that is in the process of being developed, but I have additional applications and ideas for the app. And I’d like to know if an idea of an app can be patented?

1 Lawyer Answer
Kevin E. Flynn
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  • Patents Lawyer
  • Pittsboro, NC
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A: I think you need to look at actual patents that have been issued for apps. The Supreme Court does not like mere efforts to organize human behavior with a marketplace or other app to modify human behavior. You need to show that what you did would impress an engineer that makes apps.

http://bit.ly/Patent_Searching will get you started.

You need to patent specific ways of making equipment do something of value. General concepts of what you may want to accomplish are generally not going to be sufficient.

I hope that this helps.

Kevin

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