A lot of founders skip this step. They assume every cool invention or smart feature can be patented. But that’s not how it works. The patent office has rules. Clear ones. And if you don’t check your idea against those rules early, you could waste time, money, and your shot at protection.
Is It Something That Can Even Be Patented?
Most people assume that if they thought of something cool or built something new, they can just patent it. But not everything belongs in the patent world.
There’s a clear line between what’s eligible and what’s not—and crossing that line early can save your business thousands of dollars and months of wasted time.
Here’s the truth: patent law doesn’t care how brilliant your idea sounds in a pitch deck. It only cares about what kind of idea it is and whether it fits into a specific box.
That box is called “patent-eligible subject matter.” And if your invention doesn’t fit, it’s a non-starter.
This is where many founders, especially in tech and AI, get tripped up.
You might be solving a real problem, you might even have customers, but if your solution falls into a non-patentable category—like a mental process, a law of nature, or an abstract idea—you’re stuck.
So how do you know if your invention is in the right zone?
Start by translating your idea into a system. Can you show that it works in the real world, in a specific, practical way?
Not just in theory or on paper, but as a functioning mechanism? Patents are for applications, not concepts. It’s not about what your idea means—it’s about what it does.
Let’s say you’ve created a method for predicting customer behavior using machine learning. That’s interesting.
But if your patent application just talks about math, logic, or algorithms in the abstract, it won’t fly.
You have to connect it to something real: a data pipeline, a customer workflow, an automated tool that produces a tangible output.
Here’s the move most startups miss: don’t focus on the invention as a thought. Focus on it as a machine or a process.
Show how it interacts with technology, how it transforms input into output, how it fits into a larger system that drives a result.
That framing is the difference between getting rejected and getting granted.
Another practical test is this: strip away all the tech jargon. Can you still explain what your invention does, step by step, as a process?
If you can’t describe how it works without buzzwords, it might not be patent-eligible yet. That’s a sign you need to build out more technical clarity or evolve your concept into something more concrete.
Also, look carefully at what parts of your solution are actually new. It’s common for startup teams to build on existing tools or platforms.
Maybe you’re using open-source code, third-party APIs, or known architectures. That’s fine—but you need to be clear about your contribution.
What did you add that’s unique, and how does it change the way the system behaves?
Here’s a power move: map your idea into three buckets—what’s conventional, what’s slightly improved, and what’s totally new. That third bucket is where your patent lives.
If everything sits in the first bucket, you don’t have a case. If you’ve got something in the third, and you can explain it in technical detail, you’re on track.
The good news is, many early-stage founders already have patentable ideas—they just don’t know how to explain them the right way.
They get caught up in product vision instead of focusing on invention mechanics.
That’s where a smart patent platform like PowerPatent becomes a secret weapon.
It helps you break down your idea into the parts that really matter and frame them in a way that meets the test.
So, before you think about hiring a lawyer or filing anything, get clear on this: does your invention do something real, technical, and specific?
Can you describe how it works, not just what it’s for? Have you drawn the line between theory and application?
If the answer is yes, you’re ready to move forward.
👉 Curious if your invention crosses that line? PowerPatent helps you check fast—and gives you a clear path to filing. See how it works here: https://powerpatent.com/how-it-works
Is It New?
This is the most obvious question, but also the most misunderstood. Yes, your idea needs to be new. But not just new to you.
It has to be new to everyone, everywhere, ever. That’s a high bar—and it’s where many founders unknowingly strike out.
The problem is that “new” doesn’t mean “nobody’s selling it yet” or “I haven’t seen it on Product Hunt.” It means your specific invention hasn’t been described in any public form—ever.
That includes old patents, academic papers, technical blogs, open-source projects, product manuals, or even obscure PDFs buried in search results.
One of the biggest mistakes startups make is skipping the prior art search or doing it halfway. They Google for similar products, don’t see anything too close, and assume they’re in the clear.
But patent examiners don’t stop at the first page of search results—and neither should you.
Being strategic here is key. Start with a brutally honest question: if someone in another country, at a different startup, or inside a big company quietly solved this problem five years ago and documented it somewhere, how would you find that proof?
This is where you shift from entrepreneur to detective. Start with Google Patents. It’s free and surprisingly powerful. Search by key technical terms, not marketing language.
Use diagrams, not just titles. Dig into the “cited by” and “related” links inside each patent.
That’s where you often find the gold—the similar inventions, the prior filings, the competitors you didn’t know existed.
Also, search outside your industry. A new method in fintech might already exist in logistics. A data structure used in genomics might be identical to what you’re trying to patent in AI.
The patent office doesn’t care what sector it’s from. If it’s the same core idea, it counts as prior art.
But don’t stop at patents. Look at whitepapers, GitHub repos, academic journals, obscure startup launch blogs from five years ago.
The world is full of documentation—and your job is to find anything that might kill your patent before someone else does.
This isn’t about scaring you. It’s about preparing you. Because if you do this work early, and you still don’t find anything too close, that’s a powerful sign.
It means you probably do have something unique—and that confidence is worth gold when it’s time to file.
Here’s another tactic smart founders use: reverse-engineer their idea. Ask, “If I were trying to fake this invention without infringing a patent, what would I build?”
If that workaround looks basically the same, your idea might not be new enough.
But if that workaround feels clunky or inefficient compared to your method, that’s your edge. That’s the stuff patents protect.
Also, be wary of your own public footprint.
If you’ve posted details of your invention on Twitter, in a deck, or in a Medium article—congrats, you’ve just created your own prior art. In the U.S., you still have one year to file.
But in many other countries, that window doesn’t exist. Public means public. Once it’s out there, it can’t be unseen.
That’s why the smartest move is to lock down your invention before you share it. Even a quick provisional filing can freeze your priority date and give you room to explore without risking your rights.
You don’t need everything figured out—you just need to capture what’s new, how it works, and why it’s different.
And that’s where PowerPatent shines. It gives you a clear way to document what’s unique about your invention, while you’re still building. You don’t have to stop or slow down. You just protect as you go.
👉 Want to find out what’s already out there—and what’s really new about your invention? PowerPatent helps founders run smarter, faster patent checks. Learn how here: https://powerpatent.com/how-it-works
Is It Non-Obvious
This is the silent killer of more patent applications than any other issue. You might have something new. You might have something useful.
But if it feels too expected, too logical, too much like the next step in a sequence—the patent office can still say no.
“Non-obvious” doesn’t mean strange or wildly complex. It means that your invention wouldn’t be easily guessed by someone skilled in the field.
In other words, even if all the building blocks already existed, it wasn’t obvious how to combine them in the way you did.
For founders, this test can feel frustrating. You’re solving a real problem. You’ve put in the hours. You built something that works.
But the patent examiner isn’t asking if your idea is good. They’re asking if your solution would have been predictable to a smart engineer in your space.
So how do you get past this hurdle?
The key is to tell a story that shows why your solution wasn’t obvious. This starts with understanding the “problem-solution gap.”
If your invention closes a real gap in a way that hadn’t been done before—and especially if others had tried and failed to solve that gap—that’s your strongest argument.
Let’s say your startup built a way to reduce latency in video conferencing by dynamically routing streams through unused GPU resources.
If that approach hadn’t been explored before, and especially if the industry had hit a ceiling using CPU-based optimizations, that’s non-obvious.
You didn’t just tweak a parameter. You changed the approach.
One strategy is to highlight the path not taken. Show what others were doing, what limitations they hit, and how your idea jumps tracks instead of just staying on the same rails.
Maybe you used a known tool, but in a new setting. Or maybe you linked two previously unrelated systems to create a new effect.
These shifts are often where real patent value lives.
Another strategic move: gather evidence of surprise. If early testers, industry peers, or technical reviewers said “I never would have thought of that” or “How did you even figure that out?”—that’s gold.
Document it. Include it in your notes. If your patent ever gets challenged, that kind of real-world reaction can make a huge difference.
Also, look for places where your invention breaks trade-offs.
If everyone assumed that faster meant less accurate, or that cheaper meant less durable—and you proved that assumption wrong with your invention—that’s powerful.
Breaking assumptions is one of the clearest signs of non-obviousness.
From a practical standpoint, make sure your patent application clearly spells out what others were doing before you came along. This isn’t bragging—it’s defense.
If you show what the known solutions were, what their limits were, and how your invention steps beyond them, you’re building a solid case for non-obviousness.
Don’t just describe your invention in a vacuum. Set the stage.
One more tip that helps founders: talk to people in your space before you file. If other engineers or CTOs say “that’s clever” or “that’s new”—take note.
If they say “yeah, we’ve thought about doing that,” be cautious. Their response is a signal. And if they act like it’s totally standard, your idea might not be different enough to win a patent.
At PowerPatent, we help founders build this story the right way—fast. Because the truth is, non-obviousness is just as much about framing as it is about facts.
If you can clearly explain why your solution matters and how it breaks from the status quo, your odds of getting approved go way up.
👉 Need help crafting a patent application that passes the non-obvious test? PowerPatent’s smart tools and expert oversight make it simple. See how it works: https://powerpatent.com/how-it-works
Can You Explain How It Works?
A good idea is exciting. But a patent only protects what you can explain. This is where a lot of great founders unknowingly stall out.
They’ve built something smart, but they haven’t documented the how. And in the patent world, what matters is not the result—it’s the engine behind the result.
The patent office isn’t there to reward ambition or potential. It’s there to protect inventions that are real and replicable.
If someone else—say, an engineer in another city—could take your patent and build what you built, just from your description, you’re in the right zone. If not, you’re probably too early.
So how do you get from idea to “explainable invention”? Start by working backward from the outcome.
Don’t just talk about what your product does—talk about what happens under the hood.
Break it down step by step. What are the inputs? What systems are touched? What gets transformed? What decisions are made, by whom or what, and in what order?
If you’re working on software, don’t shy away from the flow of data. How is it captured? How is it processed? What makes your logic or processing different?
It’s not enough to say “our algorithm is smarter.” You have to show how it’s smarter. What’s the twist in your logic? What rules are applied that weren’t applied before?
This is especially important in AI and ML. Most AI applications won’t be patentable just for using machine learning.
But if you designed a novel training process, or engineered your own feature extraction method, or used models in a unique pipeline that leads to a better or faster output—you need to lay that out clearly.
That’s the part that gets protected.
Hardware inventors face a similar challenge. If you’re building a new device, sensor system, or even a connector or mechanical component, the explanation can’t stop at “it works better.”
It has to show why. What materials? What shapes? What constraints does it overcome?
What does the old version look like, and what did you change to make yours work differently?
Don’t worry about legal language at this stage. Just be clear and thorough. Use diagrams if needed. Sketch out flows. Even if it’s rough, a drawing can often do what a paragraph can’t.
The clearer your explanation, the stronger your patent will be—and the harder it’ll be for anyone to work around it.
Also, this is a chance to capture everything you’ve learned. Your tech journey likely involved some dead ends, trial and error, maybe a hack or two that turned into your core solution.
Those are exactly the kinds of things to explain. Patent examiners respect the complexity. The more your patent shows real, grounded engineering thinking, the better it looks.
If you’re leading a team, this is a good moment to sync with your engineers. Often, the founder sees the big picture, while someone on the technical side knows the magic in the details.
You want both perspectives in your application. Make sure the patent reflects the actual brainpower that went into the build—not just the pitch version of it.
At PowerPatent, we’ve built tools that help founders walk through this explanation process step by step.
You don’t need to be a legal expert—you just need to know your own product.
Our software helps extract the core invention logic, and our patent team makes sure it’s structured in a way the patent office will understand.
If you can explain what your invention does and how it gets from start to finish—clearly, fully, and confidently—then you’re not just ready to file. You’re in a strong position to protect something that matters.
👉 Want help turning your invention into a clear, strong patent draft? PowerPatent makes it easy, fast, and founder-friendly. See how it works here: https://powerpatent.com/how-it-works
Did You Wait Too Long?
When it comes to patents, timing isn’t just important—it’s make-or-break. And the danger isn’t just delay. The real risk is not knowing that you’ve already started the countdown.
Many brilliant inventions lose patent protection not because they weren’t good or useful, but because the founder didn’t realize the clock was ticking.
The moment your invention becomes public, the patent game changes. In the U.S., you still have a one-year grace period to file after public disclosure.
But in most of the world—Europe, Asia, and other major markets—there’s no grace at all.
Once your idea is out in the open, it’s considered prior art, and that means you’ve lost your chance to protect it there forever.
This is especially dangerous in the early days of a startup. Founders love to talk about what they’re building.
You’re pitching investors, meeting with partners, demoing your product at events, maybe even posting on Twitter or launching a waitlist.
But all of those count as disclosures. Even private meetings can be risky if you don’t have airtight NDAs in place.
Here’s the brutal truth: your invention becomes unpatentable in many countries the second you talk about it publicly without protection in place.
That’s why strategy matters. If you’re serious about turning your tech into an asset—not just a product—you need to get protection early. And not just once.
Every meaningful update to your core system can have its own filing. Think of it like version control, but for your IP.
If you’ve already launched, ask yourself this: did we publish or share detailed information about how our invention works? Was it more than just marketing language?
Did it include diagrams, logic, code, data flows, or anything that a competitor could use to understand the guts of what we built?
If the answer is yes and more than 12 months have passed, you might be locked out in the U.S., too. But don’t panic. It’s still worth talking to an expert.
Sometimes what you shared wasn’t detailed enough to count as public disclosure. And even if it was, there may be ways to protect new or improved versions going forward.
On the flip side, if you’re still in stealth mode or haven’t revealed how your tech works yet, this is your opportunity.
You don’t need a full patent right away. A provisional application is often the best move.
It gives you a filing date and a year to develop your product further, test the market, and build around the idea—all while keeping your place in line at the patent office.
Another key move is to build an internal culture of IP awareness. If your team knows what counts as disclosure, you’ll avoid accidental leaks.
Train your staff to be cautious with documentation, demos, and investor updates. Have a simple checklist before you present or share anything. Protect before you promote.
And don’t forget international strategy. If global markets are part of your growth plan, you need to think beyond the U.S.
A single mistake in timing can shut you out of Europe, China, or Japan—even if your product takes off there later.
Early filing means you get the option to expand. Delayed filing means that door might be permanently closed.
At PowerPatent, we help teams stay ahead of these timing traps. Our platform makes it easy to file early, update when needed, and coordinate with real attorneys who understand the stakes.
That way, you never miss your window, no matter how fast you’re moving.
So if you’re asking yourself “Did we wait too long?”, don’t guess. Find out.
The sooner you know, the more options you’ll have—and the better you can protect the thing you’ve worked so hard to build.
👉 Want to lock in your IP before it’s too late? PowerPatent helps you file smart and fast, without slowing down your roadmap. See how it works: https://powerpatent.com/how-it-works
Are You Solving a Real Problem?
This might sound like a basic question, but in the patent world, it’s one of the most defining. The patent office isn’t just checking if your invention is technical or clever.
It’s looking for evidence that your idea actually solves a problem that exists in the real world. If it doesn’t, it’s not patent-worthy—it’s just a concept.
Many startups fall into the trap of building cool features without anchoring them to a clear, measurable problem.
When it comes to patents, novelty isn’t enough. You need utility—and not just theoretical utility. It has to be specific, repeatable, and tied to a meaningful outcome.
Let’s say you built a new way to sort data faster. That sounds useful, but the real question is: for whom? In what situation?
What does your solution make easier, cheaper, faster, or more reliable? Patents reward problem-solvers, not just builders.
So how do you know if your invention passes this test?
Start by documenting the pain points that led you to invent it in the first place. Was there a technical bottleneck? A cost issue? A limitation in existing tools?
The more grounded your solution is in a real-world context, the stronger your case becomes. Examiners want to see that your invention isn’t just a thought experiment—it’s a fix to a known friction.
This is also where understanding your domain pays off.
If your invention fits into a system—whether that’s a network, a manufacturing process, a data architecture, or a hardware setup—you need to show where the friction lives and how your solution removes it.
Don’t just describe the system; describe the failure points and how your invention closes the gaps.
A smart move here is to test your explanation with someone technical outside your team. If they can quickly understand what the old pain was, and how your solution changes the outcome, you’re on the right track.
If you need to talk in circles to justify its value, it might not be solid enough for protection yet.
Patents aren’t about ideas in a vacuum. They’re about inventions that do something useful and specific.
If your solution changes the state of a system in a measurable way—reducing load time, improving energy use, increasing throughput, enhancing accuracy—that’s value.
That’s the kind of technical contribution patent law exists to protect.
Another strategic angle to consider: how critical is your invention to the function of a larger product or system?
If your innovation makes something possible that wasn’t before—like real-time feedback in a closed-loop system, or dynamic scaling under load—it doesn’t just solve a problem.
It enables a new category of capability. That’s powerful.
Even better, if other companies or competitors would struggle to solve that same problem without approaching it the same way you did, you’re in a strong position. That’s the kind of innovation that builds patent moats.
At PowerPatent, we help founders not just document what they’ve built, but why it matters—technically, commercially, and strategically.
This is where most do-it-yourself patent attempts fall short. The story isn’t just about what you made. It’s about why it exists and how it changes the landscape.
If your invention grew out of real pain and delivers clear technical value, you’re not just solving a problem—you’re building IP worth defending.
👉 Want to turn your solution into a strong patent strategy? PowerPatent helps you capture the why behind your invention and protect it with confidence. See how it works: https://powerpatent.com/how-it-works
Can You Own It?
This is the question most founders forget to ask until it’s too late. But it’s one of the most important.
Because even if your invention is brilliant, brand-new, and completely patentable—if you don’t have clean ownership, you may not have the right to protect it at all.
Patents are property. And just like any other asset, ownership matters. The patent office won’t sort this out for you. They’ll assume that whoever files is telling the truth.
But if someone else helped invent the core idea, or contributed to the technical solution, or created it while employed by someone else—you could be sharing rights without even realizing it.
Start by asking: who actually invented this?
It’s not about titles or roles. It’s about who contributed to the core mechanics of the invention. Not everyone who touched the project needs to be listed on a patent.
But if someone helped figure out the core algorithm, system structure, or technical workaround—that’s an inventor.
And they need to be named. Leaving them out, even accidentally, can make your patent invalid later.
If you have co-founders, early engineers, or contractors who worked on your invention, check your agreements. Do you have signed IP assignments from everyone? If not, you could run into trouble.
A former team member could block your patent, license it to someone else, or make a claim down the road.
Investors will absolutely ask if your IP is clean—and if you can’t prove ownership, your valuation could take a hit.
It gets even trickier if you used outside code or platforms while building your product. Open source is powerful, but some licenses can restrict what you’re allowed to patent.
If your invention relies on GPL-licensed components, for example, you might be forced to share your IP in ways you didn’t expect.
Always check what your codebase includes, and where it came from.
If you built the invention while working for another company—especially if you were still employed full-time when the idea came to you—there’s a chance your old employer could have rights to it.
Many employment agreements include clauses that assign inventions to the company if they relate to its business or were created using its resources.
If you’re not sure, it’s worth reviewing your contract.
The safest approach is to establish a habit of clean documentation from day one.
Every time someone contributes to a new technical solution, track it. Every time a feature or function crosses from concept to code, log who wrote what.
Then get signed assignments as you go, not months later. It’s much easier to get agreements signed when the team is aligned and excited—rather than when someone’s already moved on or there’s a dispute.
If your invention came from collaboration—especially with advisors, labs, or universities—you need to check what agreements are in place. Academic partnerships often come with strings attached.
The institution may claim partial ownership or control over IP that came from its resources or researchers.
In some cases, even your investor pitch meetings could create grey areas, depending on how much technical detail you shared.
The takeaway is simple: the best invention in the world isn’t worth much if your ownership isn’t clean. But the good news is, this is fixable.
Most founders just need a clear process to track contributions, assign rights, and file with the right names on the record.
At PowerPatent, we help startups not just write strong patents—we help make sure those patents are clean, assigned, and fully owned by the right entity.
That means fewer legal headaches, smoother funding rounds, and more leverage down the line.
If you’ve built something real, make sure it’s really yours. Because if you can’t own it, you can’t protect it.
And if you can’t protect it, someone else will own the upside.
👉 Want to make sure your patent is fully owned, fully assigned, and fully defensible? PowerPatent helps startups get their IP house in order—fast. Learn more here: https://powerpatent.com/how-it-works
Wrapping It Up
Protecting your idea is smart. But blindly filing a patent without knowing if it will stick—that’s risky, expensive, and often a waste of time. The good news? You don’t have to guess. These seven tests give you a clear way to check if your idea is really patentable before you spend a single dollar.
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