|
| |
PatentLawyer | PatentAttorney
| PatentSearch |
PatentTrademark
|
 |
What Is a Patent?
A patent for an invention is
the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the
United
States Patent and Trademark Office. Generally, the term of a new
patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the
patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the
date an earlier related application was filed, subject to the payment
of maintenance fees.
U.S. patent grants are effective only within the United States,
U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions. Under certain circumstances,
patent term extensions or adjustments may be available. |
|
|
The
right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute
and of the grant itself, "the right to exclude others from making,
using, offering for sale, or selling" the invention in the United
States or "importing" the invention into the United States.
What is
granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import,
but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale,
selling or importing the invention.
Once a patent is issued, the
patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the USPTO.
|
|
|
|
There are three types of patents:
1) Utility patents may be granted to
anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine,
article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and
useful improvement thereof;
2) Design patents
may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental
design for an article of manufacture; and
3) Plant patents may be granted to
anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct
and new variety of plant.
http://www.uspto.gov/index.html
Search for a Patent Lawyer or Patent Attorney |
|
|
HOME
| Patent Basics |
Patent Search | Patent Application |
Provisional Patent |
Patent/Trademark Lawyers
PatentLawyer | PatentAttorney
| PatentSearch |
PatentTrademark
|