What is a patent?
The grant of a U.S. patent confers upon the inventor the right to exclude others from making, using or selling his or her invention throughout the United States during the term of the patent. In order to obtain any type of patent protection, an invention must be novel and unobvious over what has been invented before. Patent protection in this country is obtained from the United States Patent & Trademark Office in Washington, DC. There are three forms of patents: design patents, utility patents and plant patents. Design patents are granted for any new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. Design patents cover the aesthetic appearance of an invention. The term of a design patent is fourteen years. Utility patents have a term of seventeen years in the United States and cover the functional features of an invention. Utility patents are granted for any new and useful process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter or for any new and useful improvement thereof
A patent is granted by the U.S. government through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and it allows individuals or institutions to temporarily monopolize an ‘invention.’ A patent is a property right, according to the USPTO, “[to] any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof” and is sought to exclude others from replicating, selling, or using the invention without paying a fee. Patent rights can last up to 20 years.
A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a government to an inventor or applicant for a limited amount of time (normally 20 years from the filing date). The term “patent” originates from the term patere which means to lay open (to public inspection) and the term “letters patent,” which originally denoted royal decrees granting exclusive rights to certain individuals or businesses. Per the word’s original definition, one theory of patent legislation is to induce the inventor to disclose knowledge for the advancement of society in exchange for a limited period of exclusivity. Furthermore, as the grant of letters patent only grants the right to exclude others from practicing the invention and does not affirmatively grant the right to practice the invention, a patent is not considered a monopoly right.
