WHAT IS A PATENT
Posted in About Patents, Featured Articles
A United States patent grants its owner an exclusive right to make, use and sell his invention within the United States. That is, a person can be restrained from manufacturing the invention in the United States (although the invention can be manufactured in another country unless a patent is obtained there also). If the invention is manufactured in another country, a person cannot bring it into the United States because he cannot use it here. Nor can he import it for sale in the United States. One who infringes on a patent subjects himself to losses incurred by the patent owner, including three times the patent owner’s lost profits.
KINDS OF PATENTS
Design patents are available to protect the artistic nature of a device whose primary element is functional.
Utility Patent:
A utility patent protects the functional aspects of a device or process.
A nonprovisional utility patent is the exclusive right to make, use or sell a patented device or process for twenty years from the date the application was filed in the United States, or the priority date if earlier filed in another country.
A provisional utility patent application is an opportunity for you to file an abbreviated application for a utility patent (device or process) and delay the preparation and filing of a nonprovisional application for up to a year and still obtain a patent filing date now that is retained in a year provided all information disclosed and claimed in the nonprovisional application is found in the provisional application.
Either a provisional or nonprovisional application can be filed for a new or improved device or process.
Generally, an application must be filed on or before one year from the date the device or process was first used publically or offered for sale by the inventor, not including experimental use.
A nonprovisional utility patent is the exclusive right to make, use or sell a patented device or process for twenty years from the date the application was filed in the United States, or the priority date if earlier filed in another country.
A provisional utility patent application is an opportunity for you to file an abbreviated application for a utility patent (device or process) and delay the preparation and filing of a nonprovisional application for up to a year and still obtain a patent filing date now that is retained in a year provided all information disclosed and claimed in the nonprovisional application is found in the provisional application.
Either a provisional or nonprovisional application can be filed for a new or improved device or process.
Generally, an application must be filed on or before one year from the date the device or process was first used publically or offered for sale by the inventor, not including experimental use.
Design Patent:
Rather than protecting the function of a device or a method of achieving a useful result as in a utility patent, in general terms, a design patent protects the look of a functional device. Design in this sense refers to the aesthetic quality of a functional device, not the engineering aspects. A design patent is valid for 14 years from the date of grant.
Plant Patent:
“A patent may be obtained for anyone that invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state ….” 35 USC Part I, section 181.
