What Is a Patent?
- Utility Patent – A utility patent is granted to an inventor who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement of any of the foregoing. Two types of utility applications – provisional and nonprovisional – may be filed, however, only a nonprovisional application is examined by the USPTO and may result in a patent. Utility patents are useful for protecting inventions that are mechanical, chemical, electrical, biological, and software in nature as well as processes and methods related to any of the foregoing and inventions related to business methods. Utility patents are the most common type of patent. If your invention does not relate to an ornamental design or a plant, you most likely require a utility patent.
- Design Patent – A design patent is granted for the invention of a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. Design patents are used to protect the visual ornamental characteristics, which are embodied in or applied to an object (i.e., an article of manufacture). The design may relate to the configuration or shape of the article, to surface ornamentation applied to the article, or to a combination of the foregoing.
- Plant Patent – With some exceptions, a plant patent is granted to an inventor who has invented or discovered and asexually reproduced a distinct and new variety of plants. The plant cannot be found in an uncultivated state or one that is propagated from a tuber. Hybrids, mutants, sports, and transformed plants are protectable by plant patent, as are macrofungi and algae, however, bacteria are not.
Does the USPTO Enforce a Patent Owner’s Patent Rights Against Infringers?
What Happens Once a Patent Expires or a Published Patent Application Becomes Abandoned?
Can an Invention or Design Be Protected By a “Poor Man’s Patent”?
When Can the Patent Markings “Patent Pending,” “Patented,” and a Patent Number Be Used?
Patent owners and their licensees who sell patented articles are required to mark the patented articles with the marking “Patent” or “U.S. Patent” and the patent number, for example, U.S. Patent No. 1,234,567. Failure to do so negatively impacts the patent owner’s ability to recover damages from infringers. Federal law provides other marking options for inventions that cannot be readily marked with the required marking.
Patent applicants may use the marking “Patent Pending” or “Patent Applied For” on articles for which patent protection is being sought in a pending patent application, however, no legal requirement requires such markings to be used.
False use of the foregoing markings (e.g., using one of the markings reserved for patented articles and other inventions when no patent has been granted; Or using “Patent Pending” or similar language with an article when no patent application has been filed) is known as false marking. False marking is a violation of federal law that may subject the violator to governmental fines as well as civil lawsuits from competitors.