| Patent law (patents for inventions) |
|---|
| Overviews |
| Patents · History Economics · Societal views |
| Processes |
| Application · Prosecution Licensing · Infringement |
| Patentability |
| Patentable subject matter Novelty · Utility Industrial applicability Person skilled in the art Prior art · Inventorship |
| Additional requirements |
| Sufficiency of disclosure Unity of invention |
| By region / country |
| Europe Japan Canada · United States Australia |
| Subject-matter |
| Biological patent · Gene patent Business method · Tax patent Chemical patent · Software patent |
| Category · Glossary |
United States patent law was established "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"[1] as provided by the United States Constitution. Congress implemented these protections as a first-to-invent patent legal framework. By contrast, all other national patent laws are first-to-file systems. The provisions of the law are laid out in Title 35 of the United States Code (U.S.C.) and give authority for the United States Patent and Trademark Office.[2] This system is permitted by Article One, Section 8(8) of the U.S. Constitution which states:
In the U.S., a patent is a right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, exporting components to be assembled into an infringing device outside the U.S., importing the product of a patented process practiced outside the U.S., inducing others to infringe, offering a product specially adapted for practice of the patent, and a few other very carefully defined categories. Thus, merely thinking about an invention, or drawing a diagram, is not an infringement. Research for "purely philosophical" inquiry is not an infringement, but research directed to commercial purposes is - unless the research is directed toward obtaining approval of the Food and Drug Administration for introduction of a generic version of a patented drug.
Under current US law, the term of patent is 20 years from the earliest claimed filing date (which can be extended via Patent Term Adjustment and Patent Term Extension). For applications filed before June 8, 1995, the term is 17 years from the issue date or 20 years from the earliest claimed domestic priority date, the longer term applying.
Contents |
Under Title 35 of the United States Code, the patentability of inventions is defined under Sections 100-105. Most notably, section 101 [3] sets out subject matter that can be patented; section 102 [4] defines novelty and loss of right to patent; section 103 [5] lists what constitutes non-obvious subject matter.
The United States Constitution, Section 8, makes patents for inventions a constitutional right: "by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries" without limiting such rights to product developers. Just as there is no legal requirement that owners of real property develop their vacant land, there is likewise no legal requirement that patent owners develop their inventions.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office publishes patent applications 18 months after they are filed. This time limit can be extended under certain circumstances for an additional fee.[6] The applications are published before a patent has been granted on them.
In the United States, a patent holder may wish to pursue a cause of action in the ITC instead of, or in addition to the court system. In contrast to courts who have a wide range of remedies at their disposal, the ITC can only do one thing when it comes to patent infringement: grant or deny injunctive relief by ordering to keep infringing products from being imported into the United States. In some cases, this may provide a quicker resolution to a patent owner's problems.
Like any other property right, patents may be sold, licensed, mortgaged, assigned, transferred, given away, abandoned, actively developed, or held as investments without being developed. Just as there is no legal requirement that owners of real property develop their vacant land, there is likewise no legal requirement that patent owners develop their inventions.
|
||||||||