A patent is a right granted by the government 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 date the patent application was filed or, in special cases, from the date a related earlier application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees.
When a patent expires, the invention goes into the “public domain”, allowing anyone to make, use or sell the invention without the need for permission or payment of royalties to the inventor. The government requires that patents 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 process, machine, manufacture or composition of new and useful matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, 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 in 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 publication printed in this or a foreign country, prior to the invention of the same by the patent applicant, “or” (b) the invention was patented or described in a publication printed in this or a foreign country or in public use or for sale in this country more than a year before the patent application.
If the invention has been described in a printed publication anywhere in the world, or if it 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 a year prior to the date a patent application is filed in this country, it cannot be obtained. a patent.
In this regard, 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 it publicly, or puts it up for sale, he must apply for a patent within one year, otherwise the right to an invention patent will be lost. 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. In the event of the death of the inventor, the request may be made by the legal representatives, that is, the administrator or executor of the inheritance. If the inventor is crazy, a guardian can file a patent application for an invention. If an inventor refuses to apply for a patent for his inventions, or cannot be found, a joint inventor or, if there is no joint inventor available, a person with a proprietary interest in the invention may apply on behalf of the non-joint inventor. -inventor. signing inventor.
If two or more people make an invention together, they apply for a patent as co-inventors. A person who only makes a financial contribution for the invention is not a co-inventor and cannot join the application as an inventor.
Additional information on how to patent an invention is available at http://www.newideatrade.com.