Patents: Overview

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.

• The term of a new patent is generally 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States, but there are special cases. 
• It is only valid in the country in which it was issued. So, U.S. patent grants are effective only within the United States, U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions. 
• A patent confers the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention.
• Once a U.S. patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the USPTO.

Types of Patents

1. Utility patents -  (most common) - 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 - (protects appearance) - granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture
3. Plant patents - granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.

​Credit: United States Patent and Trademark Office (October 2015). General information concerning patents.

What is Patentable?

An invention that is: 

• Novel: at least one significant part of the invention must be completely new, never been described, or used for the same purpose, never made public, before the date the application was filed.
• Useful: invention should have a useful purpose
• Non-obvious: invention must be so different from anything that had been used or described before, so that it is not obvious to an expert in that field.