Overview

So, first things first. Before you ask whether you need a patent, you should have a good idea of what exactly a patent is. What follows is a general overview. As I fill in the details with later posts, I will add links to this post in appropriate places so that you can explore each topic in greater depth.

You may think of a patent as a piece of paper- a document. Well, it is. A document describing an invention that the U.S. government, in the form of the Patent Office, has deemed worthy of patent protection is called a patent. But fundamentally, a patent is a right granted to an inventor by the government. This right is the right to exclude others from making use of an invention.

If you hold a United States patent for an invention, you have the right to exclude anyone else from making, using, selling, or offering to sell that invention in the United States, or from importing that invention into the United States. Notice that this does not mean the patent holder does have the right to make, use, or sell the invention! For example, making, using, or selling the invention may be against state or federal law due to environmental regulations or criminal law. A patent never gives you the right to do something that would otherwise be illegal.

Enforcement

It is the responsibility of the patent owner to enforce its patent. An entity that violates patent rights by making, selling, using, or importing an invention covered by a U.S. patent other than its own is known as a patent infringer. It is up to the patent owner to monitor the market for infringing products and to sue those who are violating the owner’s patent rights. If an individual inventor obtains a patent, frames it and puts it on his wall, but never monitors the market for infringement, businesses may infringe his patent and sell his invention with impunity.

Types

There are three types of patents available in the U.S. By far the most common is the utility patent, which generally protects products and processes. However, there are two additional types of patents: design patents, for ornamental designs for an article of manufacture, and plant patents, for asexually reproduced plants.

Term of protection

In the United States, the right conferred by a utility patent now lasts 20 years from the time the original patent application was filed, assuming the periodic maintenance fees charged by the Patent Office are paid.

Application process

Essentially, the government grants limited monopolies over inventions (patents) in return for public disclosure of the inventions. When a patent is granted it is published for the world to see, meaning that the inventor gives up the ability to keep the invention as a trade secret. Other businesses and inventors are free to build on and improve that invention, as long as they do not infringe the patent during its 20-year term.

Given that trade-off, the government wants to make sure that what it is getting is worth what it is granting in the form of monopoly power. For that purpose, the Patent Office requires an inventor seeking a patent to submit a patent application. This application must contain the disclosure that will be published when the patent is issued and must fully define the invention sought to be protected. The Patent Office then examines this application to ensure that the invention meets certain requirements and that the disclosure is adequate and in the correct format.

This examination process can be lengthy and frequently involves back-and-forth communication between inventors or their lawyers and examiners at the Patent Office. During this period the application may be changed, for example to overcome objections raised by the Examiner. Assuming the application is found in compliance, the application will eventually issue as a patent and will be published in the Patent Official Gazette for the world to see. The issued patent will also be available electronically at the Patent Office website, www.uspto.gov.

If you have any corrections or requests for additional topics to include in this post, please leave them in the comments.