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What is a patent?
A patent is a grant by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of the right to stop others from making, using or selling an invention in the United States for a limited period of time.
How long is a patent in effect?
Utility Patents and Plant Patents are valid for a period starting on the date the patent is issued by the Patent and Trademark Office, and ending, at the latest, 20 years after the US filing date
Design Patents are valid for a period of 14 years from the date of issue.
What can be patented?
Utility Patents cover:
* Machines
* Articles of manufacture
* Methods (processes)
* Compositions of matter (chemicals, cell lines)
* Improvements to any of the above.
Design Patents cover the appearance of useful objects. They do not cover the function or construction of the object.
Plant Patents cover certain plants.
What cannot be patented?
* Purely mental processes
* Mathematical algorithms or formulas (that is, just a formula without a real-world effect - a formula or algorithm may be claimed as part of a method, so long as there is an effect on the real world)
* Arrangements of printed matter (Printed matter may be part of a patentable invention, but if the "invention" is just words, copyright protection is more appropriate)
* Naturally occurring things (unaltered - these are not "inventions")
* Scientific principles (a device or method which operates based on a new scientific principle can be patented, but the underlying principle cannot)
* Inventions solely useful in making atomic weapons
* Human beings
What makes an invention patentable?
There are three major requirements for patentability: The invention must be novel, useful and not obvious.
* "Novel" means the invention was never patented before you invented it, never described in a publication, never in public use or on sale, by others before your invention.
Important note: all of these also apply to your own actions more than one year before you apply for a patent. In other words, you have one year from the date you first described your invention in a publication, or first sold it or publicly used it, within which you must apply for a patent if you ever want patent protection.
You should also be aware that most other countries do not give this one-year grace period, so if you intend to apply for patents outside the USA, you should have your US application on file before your first publication, sale or public use.
* "Useful" generally means that the invention does something, anything at all.
Very few applications are rejected on the grounds of "not useful" - mostly "perpetual motion" inventions and chemical compounds and gene sequences with no known utility. "Useful" does not require commercial marketability - getting a patent does not mean that the USPTO has passed judgment on whether or not anyone really wants the product. For a few examples of patents with questionable marketability, see our Weird and Wonderful Patents web pages.
* "Not obvious" means the invention must not be an obvious development of what has gone before, in the judgment of an ordinary person skilled in the applicable field.
This last is often the hardest to define - every invention seems obvious to the inventor, after it's been invented. Usually, "obviousness" is couched in terms of what a combination of references would have taught to the mythical "Person Having Ordinary Skill In The Art" before the invention was created. In other words, your invention is obvious if Mr. Phosita, who knows everything there is to know, would have known to combine these previously-existing inventions to result in your invention, without having seen your patent application first.
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