A:        A patent gives inventors the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling their invention throughout the United States or importing their invention into the United States for a limited time.

Q:        What can be patented?

A:        A process, a machine, an article of manufacture, a composition of matter, or an improvement thereof, can be patented with a utility patent.  An ornamental design can be patented with a design patent.  An asexually reproduced plant can be patented with a plant patent.

Q:        What cannot be patented?

A:        Any abstract idea, a physical phenomena, a law of nature, or literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works.

Q:        Who can apply for a patent?

A:        The actual inventor(s), but the inventor(s) can sell or assign the patent to someone else.

Q:        How long does patent protection last?

A:        Utility and plant patents are granted for a term which begins with the issue date and ends 20 years from the filing date of the application, assuming the required maintenance fees are paid.  Design patents last 14 years from the issue date.

Q:        Who owns a patent?

A:        The actual inventor(s), unless the inventor(s) have assigned the patent to someone else, for example, a corporation or a university.

Q:        How is patent protection lost?

A:        By failing to pay a required maintenance fee, by a court action, or by a subsequent reexamination proceeding.

Q:        When should a patent application be filed?

A:        As soon as possible after completing the invention.  Further, if the invention is publicly disclosed, an application must be filed within one year.

Q:        What type of utility patent applications are there?

A:        Non-provisional applications and provisional applications.

Q:        Is there a difference between a provisional or non-provisional patent application?

A:        Yes, a provisional application is a low cost way to establish a filing date.  It automatically expires after one year without any examination.  Typically, a provisional application is converted into a non-provisional application.  The non-provisional application is examined and provides the basis for the issued patent.  Another approach is to convert the provisional application to a PCT application.

Q:        Is a United States patent valid in any other country?

A:        No, just in the United States.

Q:        What is a PCT Patent Application?

A:        A PCT Patent Application is an international application that eventually is filed as national stage applications in the countries that you designate. This process streamlines the filing of applications in each country and provides the inventor more time to access the commercial viability before paying the filing fees in each country.

Q:        What are the claims in the patent application?

A:        The claims legally define the features of the invention.

Q:        What Is a small entity?

A:        A small entity is an independent inventor, a collaboration of independent inventors, a nonprofit organization (e.g., a university), or a company with less than 500 employees.  A small entity pays reduced fees (50% discount) to the USPTO for many of their filing fees.

Q:        What is a patent application publication?

A:        A published form of the patent application. Publication occurs 18-month period following the earliest effective filing date or priority date.  After publication, any member of the public may access to the entire file history of the application via Public Pair.

Q:        Why publish the application?

A:        The publication of the application provides the applicant with provisional rights. Provisional rights provide a patentee with the opportunity to obtain a reasonable royalty from a third party that infringes a published application claim.

Q.        What do the terms "patent pending" and "patent applied for" mean?

A.        These terms are used by a manufacturer or seller of an article to inform the public that an application for patent on that article is on file in the Patent and Trademark Office.