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A patent is an intellectual property right granted by the government of the United States of America to an inventor "to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States" for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.
The following may be patented:
In addition to utility patents, encompassing one of the categories above, patent protection is available for an ornamental design of an article of manufacture or asexually reproduced plant varieties by design and plant patents.
In order to be granted a patent an invention must be:
The length of patent protection depends on when the patent application was filed and the type of patent application. For applications filed on or after June 8, 1995, utility and plant patents are granted for a term which begins with the date of the grant and usually ends 20 years from the date you first applied for the patent subject to the payment of appropriate maintenance fees. Design patents last 14 years from the date granted. No maintenance fees are required for design patents.
Note: Patents in force on June 8, 1995 and patents issued thereafter on applications filed prior to June 8, 1995 automatically have a term that is the greater of the twenty-year term discussed above, or seventeen years from the patent grant.
Contact The Law Office of Anthony N. Elia, where we provide the comprehensive and hands-on legal service you need to protect your intellectual property.