About Patents
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from http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/index.html#patent
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.
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.