A patent is a government-granted right that allows the inventor to exclude anyone else from making, using, or selling the invention in the country that issued the patent. The government grants this right to help encourage inventors to spend time, money, and effort inventing new products, technologies, and the like.
In the United States, the term of a new patent is 20 years from the filing date of the patent application or, in special cases, from the filing date of a related earlier application, subject to payment of maintenance fees.
When a patent expires, the invention enters the “public domain,” allowing anyone to make, use, or sell it without obtaining permission or paying royalties to the inventor. The government requires patents to expire because otherwise one person can control an entire industry if that person was the first to conceive of a type of product.
Patent law specifies the general field of subject matter that can be patented and the conditions under which a patent can be obtained for an invention. Any person who “invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereon, may obtain a patent,” subject to the conditions and requirements of the law.
For an invention to be patentable, it must be new, as defined by patent law, which states that an invention cannot be patented if: “(a) the invention was known or used by others in this country, or patented or described in a printed publication in this country or abroad, before the patent applicant invented it”, or “b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this country or abroad, or in use public or for sale in this country more than one year prior to the patent application.
If the invention has been described in a printed publication anywhere in the world, or has been in public use or for sale in this country before the date the applicant made his invention, a patent cannot be obtained. If the invention has been described in a printed publication anywhere, or has been in public use or for sale in this country more than one year before the date a patent application is filed in this country, it cannot be obtained. a patent.
In this respect, it is irrelevant when the invention was made, or whether the printed publication or public use was made by the inventor himself or by someone else. If the inventor describes the invention in a printed publication or uses the invention publicly, or puts it up for sale, he must apply for a patent within one year, otherwise he will lose any right to a patent on an invention. However, the inventor must file the application on the date of public use or disclosure to preserve patent rights in many foreign countries.
According to the law, only the inventor can apply for a patent for his invention, with certain exceptions. If the inventor is dead, the request can be made by the legal representatives, that is, the administrator or executor of the estate. If the inventor is crazy, the patent application for an invention can be made by a guardian. If an inventor refuses to apply for a patent for his inventions, or a co-inventor cannot be found, or, if no co-inventor is available, a person having an ownership interest in the invention may apply on behalf of the non-inventor. signing inventor.
If two or more people make an invention together, they apply for a patent as joint inventors. A person who only makes a financial contribution to the invention is not a joint inventor and cannot join the application as an inventor.
Additional information on how to patent an invention is available at http://www.newideatrade.com.