In the U.S., there are three basic classes of patent applications:

• Utility Patents - for functional innovations;
• Design Patents - for aesthetic (ornamental) innovations; and
• Plant Patents - for asexually reproduced plant variety innovations.

Utility Patents are also available in most foreign countries.

Because the Utility class is by far the largest (roughly 96% of all U.S. patent applications), except where noted, it is the primary focus of our communications.

The Utility class includes two types of applications:

• the provisional (a.k.a. “informal”) patent application; and
• the non-provisional (a.k.a. “regular” or “formal”) patent application.