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What is Patent?
A patent allows one to prohibit others from making, using, selling, offering for sale or importing into the United States for a period of up to twenty years from the date of filing the application.
The invention must be new, useful, and non-obvious. Typically inventions are aesthetic designs, functional items, functional methods, or asexually reproduced plants.
How long is a patent valid?
Patents issuing prior to June 8, 1995 can last up to 17 years from the date of issuance. Patents resulting from applications that were pending on June 8, 1995 can last up to the longer of: 17 years from the date of issuance or 20 years from the date of filing. Patents resulting from applications filed after June 8, 1995 can last up to 20 years from the date of filing.
What competition does a patent prevent?
Patents provide the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale or importing the invention described in the claims. This is perhaps the most powerful monopoly legally obtainable for products.
What is the geographic scope of a patent?
A patent is national in scope. Patents can be obtained in most foreign countries.
Can one infringe a patent without having knowledge of the patent?
Yes. Infringement occurs when one practices the invention described in the claims. Knowledge, or lack thereof, is generally irrelevant to issues of liability. Independent development is not a defense. Knowledge of the patent by the infringer, however, can be relevant to damages. Many companies do new product clearance searches to avoid law suits.
Can I keep some information about my invention a secret?
There is a requirement that the invention be completely disclosed. Failure to disclose will invalidate the resulting patent. One cannot maintain information important to the patent as trade secret if the information was known as of the filing date.
What rights does a patent provide?
The right to prohibit (see previous question) does not automatically include the right for the inventor to make, use, sell, import and/or offer the invention for sale. Anyone is free, however, to engage in such activities unless there is a law prohibiting it. The prohibitory laws of greatest concern include FDA regulations, firearm and explosives regulations, and patent laws whereby one's invention improves on another's patented invention.
About the Author:
N. Paul Friederichs, founder, started practice as a patent attorney in 1992 at a major Minneapolis, Minnesota law firm where he was the highest performing associate. In 1993, he started and developed Friederichs Law Firm with his father. Throughout this time Paul�s experience was heavily weighted toward litigation. He served such clients as Tonka Toys, American Harvest and Boston Medical.
He can be reached at http://www.angenehm.com/