Patents: Basic Info

Engineering Development Services -- SBDC

A patent for an invention is a grant of a property right by the Government to the inventor (or his or her heirs or assigns), acting through the Patent and Trademark Office.  The duration of a patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, if the application contains a specific reference to an earlier filed application, from the date the earliest such application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. The right conferred by the patent grant extends only throughout the United States and its territories and 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.

More information can be found at the USPTO site: Basic facts about patents

Some persons occasionally confuse patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Although there may be some resemblance in the rights of these three kinds of intellectual property, they are different and serve different purposes.

A copyright protects the writings of an author against copying. Literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works are included within the protection of the copyright law, which in some instances also confers performing and recording rights. The copyright protects the form of expression rather than to the subject matter of the writing. A description of a machine could be copyrighted as a writing, but this would only prevent others from copying the description; it would not prevent others from writing a description of their own or from making and using the machine. Copyrights are registered with the United States Copyright Office.

Trademarks & Servicemarks

A trademark or servicemark relates to any word, name, symbol or device which is used in trade with goods or services to indicate the source or origin of the goods or services and to distinguish them from the goods or services of others. Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark but not to prevent others from making the same goods or from selling them under a non-confusing mark. Similar rights may be acquired in marks used in the sale or advertising of services (service marks). Trademarks and service marks which are used in interstate or foreign commerce may be registered in the Patent and Trademark Office.  More information can be found at the USPTO site:  Basic Facts About Trademarks.

Points To Remember About Patents

• A patent gives the holder the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a fixed period of time.
• There are 3 types of patents:
  • Utility Patent: covers articles of manufacture (products & devices), processes, composition of matter, and biotech.
  • Design Patent:  covers only the visual appearance of an object and last for 14 years
  • Plant Patent: asexually reproduced plant
• 3 criteria for patentability for a utility patent:
  
  • The invention must have utility (i.e., be useful).
  • The invention must be novel / unique.
  • The invention must not be an obvious combination of previously patented inventions.
• Patent claims
  • The key pieces of information in a patent
  • Part of patent where inventor specifies those features of the invention that are actually patented
  • Used for determining infringement and patentability
  • There may be many similar patents as long as their claims do not overlap.
• Life of a patent:
  • For utility patents since June of 1995, the patent is good for 20 years from the date of initial application.
  • Periodic maintenance fees are due to prevent patents from expiring.
  • Patents are not renewable and inventions can not be repatented after their patents expire.
• Patent Pending
  
  • It is legal to use the term "patent pending" with regards to your invention only after the date the patent office officially receives your patent application.
  • This offers no protection for your invention but notifies the public that you have filed for patent protection.
• After your invention has been publicly disclosed, you have one year to submit your U.S. patent application.
  
  • If you wait longer than a year, the invention may never be patented by you or anyone else.
  • Be aware that public disclosure prior to patent application submittal may disqualify the invention for foreign patent protection.
• It is a good idea to practice good documentation in the early stages of conception and development of your invention. If someone files for patent protection for the same invention as you, the patent is awarded to the inventor who was first to conceive it, not first to file.
• A patent does not guarantee success. It only means that your invention is significantly different from anything else that has been patented, but not necessarily superior.
• You can make and sell your invention without a patent as long as it does not infringe on any existing patents. However, this gives you no protection from having someone else copy your product.
• Why do a patent search?
  • To see if you can get a patent and avoid wasting time and money on an application
  • Commercial information -> see if similar patents exist that were not successful commercially
  • Provides valuable background information for your own application
  • Helps you to write your application claims around the prior art
• EDS can assist clients with a preliminary patent search!