What is a patent?
A U.S. patent excludes others from making, using, or selling the invention in the United States. The terms “patent pending” and “patent applied for” are used to inform the public that an application for a patent has been filed. Patent protection does not start until the actual grant of a patent. Marketing of an article as patented, when it is not, is illegal and subject to penalty.
A patent is the grant of a property right to inventor(s), issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). A patent right is “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. It is important to distinguish that what is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import an invention, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention. For more information CLICK HERE to go to the USPTO web site.
A. The idea of a modern patent system dates back to at least 15th Century England. The United States Constitution provides for the U.S. patent system, and the U.S. Congress defines the patent laws in Title 35 of the United States Code. In the U.S., a patent provides the holder the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering to sell, and importing any patented invention. Thus, a patent does not necessarily provide the holder any affirmative right to practice a technology – it provides the right to exclude others from practicing it. See http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/index.html#patent and http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/whatis.htm. The legal definition of an invention is found in the “claims” of a patent — the numbered paragraphs at the end of an issued patent. The claims define the scope of an invention just as a property deed defines the scope of land ownership of real estate. Thus, the term patent claim differs from the term “claim
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the USPTO. 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. US patent grants are effective only within the US, US territories, and US possessions. 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.
