Patent
A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state
to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for
the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of
a device, method, process or substance (known as an invention)
which is new, inventive and useful.
The term originates from the Latin word patere which means
"to lay open" (ie. make available for public
inspection) and the term letters patent, which originally
denoted royal decrees granting exclusive rights to certain
individuals or businesses.
Economic rationale and criticisms
There are two primary justifications for granting patents.
First, in accordance with the original definition of the
term "patent," it is argued that awarding patents
facilitates and encourages disclosure of innovations into
the public domain for the common good. Without patent
protection, an inventor may prefer to keep her invention
a secret. Disclosure of an invention allows other inventors
to improve upon it and patent their improvements. Furthermore,
when a patent's term has expired, the public record insures
that the patentee's idea is not lost to mankind.
Second, it is broadly believed that patent protection
incentivizes economically-efficient research and development
(R&D). Many corporations have annual R&D budgets
of hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. In
a society without patnts, it is conceivable that each
corporation would lower or eliminate R&D spending,
because each could reap what another had sown. This second
justification closely parallels fundamental arguments
underlying traditional property rights--who would build
a house if another could freely occupy it?
However, there are compelling arguments in opposition
to patent rights. Most fundamentally, granting a patent
confers a monopoly of sorts upon an owner, because he
may legally exclude competitors from using or exploiting
the invention (though strictly speaking, the word "monopoly"
requires that there is no viable alternative in the marketplace).
In this way, patnt rights differ from traditional property
rights--building a house does not prevent one's neighbor
from building a house, but patenting an invention bars
anyone in the country of filing from producing the invention
for the term of the patent. Indeed, patents have historically
been granted by sovereigns to non-inventing parties in
favor merely so they could profit from monopoly power.
The stifling of competition due to patent rights may result
in higher prices, lower quality, and shortages--characteristic
problems with monopolies.
Legal implementation
A modern patent provides the right to exclude others from
making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing
the patented invention. Generally, patents are enforced
only through civil lawsuits. Patent licensing agreements
are effectively contracts in which the patent owner (the
licensor) agrees not to sue the licensee for infringement
of the licensor's patnet rights. Governments typically
reserve the right to suspend or cancel a patent at will.
A patent application, for a utility patent in the United
States (as opposed to a design patent), must explain how
to practice (i.e., make and/or use) the invention(s) and
must also include claims that particularly point out the
invention(s) and define the scope of the subject matter
for which exclusive rights are sought by the patent applicant.
The exclusive rights are limited to the subject matter
encompassed by the patent's claims. Paten claims are typically
of the form of a long sentence, e.g.:
* "An apparatus for catching mice, comprising a base
member for placement on a flat surface, a spring member..."
* "A chemical for cleaning windows, comprising approximately
10-15% ammonia, ..."
* "A method for computing future life expectancies,
the method comprising gathering personal data including
X, Y, Z, ..."
• Term of patent
• Patent application
• Patent attorney
Each word of a claim is considered an "element"
or "limitation" of the claim. In order to exclude
someone from using your patented invention in a court,
you will have to demonstrate to the court that what the
other person is using is included within the scope of
at least one claim.
For this reason, it is more valuable to obtain patent
claims that include the absolute minimal set of limitations
that differentiate a new invention over what came before.
While the United States is moving towards more rigid claim
interpretations, "equivalents" of claim elements
or limitations may be permitted in determining patent
infringement. The practice elsewhere in the world differs.
See:
• Intellectual
Property Rights
• Patent
Prosecution Process
• Patentable
Subject Matter
• cross-licensing agreements
• Exclusive Rights
• LLC Limited Liability Company
• Invention
• Timeline of Invention
• General
Patent Corporation Wins Reexamination for Acticon Patents
• Intellectual Property - The 3 Branches: Copyrights, Patents & Trademarks
• Patent - How To Get One
• Patent Expert Offer Free Do-It-Yourself Patent Course to Independent Inventors
Legal concepts
Assignor estoppel -- Claim -- Defensive publication --
Disclaimer -- Doctrine of equivalents -- Essential patent
-- Exhaustion of rights -- First to file -- First to invent
-- Industrial applicability -- Interference proceeding
-- Inventive step -- Inventor -- Letters patent -- Non-obviousness
-- Patent family -- Patent infringement -- Patent misuse
-- Patent pending -- Patent pool -- Patentability -- Person
having ordinary skill in the art -- Petition to make special
-- Prior art -- Prosecution history estoppel -- Provisional
rights -- Reasonable and Non Discriminatory Licensing
-- Reduction to practice -- Research exemption -- Sufficiency
of disclosure -- Supplementary protection certificate
-- Term of patent -- Unity of invention -- Utility
Special types of patents and patent applications
Biological patent -- Business method patent -- Chemical
patent -- Design patent -- Patent application (see also:
Continuing patent application (incl. continuation, divisional
and cip) -- Provisional application) -- Software patent
(see also: List of software patents -- Software patent
debate -- Software patents under the European Patent Convention
-- Software patents under the Patent Cooperation Treaty
-- Software patents under TRIPs Agreement -- Software
patents under U.S. patent law) -- Utility model
Organizations and patent offices
Main articles: intellectual property organization and
patent office.
African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO)
-- Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) -- Eurasian
Patent Organization (EAPO) -- European Patent Organisation
(EPO or EPOrg) (incl. European Patent Office) -- Organisation
Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle
(OAPI) -- United Kingdom Patent Office -- United States
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) -- World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO)
Treaties, conventions and other legal texts and frameworks:
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIPs Agreement) -- American Inventors Protection
Act (AIPA) -- Budapest Treaty -- Community Patent (proposed)
-- EU Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented
Inventions (proposed, then rejected) -- EU Directive on
the Patentability of Biotechnological Inventions -- European
Patent Convention (EPC) -- European patent law -- European
Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA) (proposed) -- Paris
Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property --
US Patent Reform Act of 2005 -- Patent Cooperation Treaty
(PCT) -- Patent Law Treaty (PLT) -- Substantive Patent
Law Treaty (SPLT) (proposed) -- Statute of Monopolies
1623 -- Strasbourg Convention -- United States patent
law
Other
Chartered Institute of Patent Agents (CIPA) -- Industrial
design rights -- Industrial property -- INPADOC - Intellectual
property -- International Patent Classification (IPC)
-- List of top United States patent recipients -- Patent
attorney -- Patent clerk -- Patent model -- Patent troll
-- X-Patent
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