US Patent

•    Purpose of US Patents
A US patent provides patent rights in the form of a limited monopoly, as lasts for a period of 20 years and provides the exclusive ability to use, sell and make inventions for this duration. US patents are conceived of, in the terms adopted by US legal theory, as a means of encouraging scientific and technical innovation on the part of the country’s population and thereby increasing the nation’s wealth and commerce. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is empowered to exercise US patent functions.

•    Legal background for US Patents
The US patent sector of intellectual property protection rights was one of the earliest subjects to be provided for through Constitutional provisions and Congressional legislation:

o    Constitutional US patent provisions
Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of this document empowers Congress toward passing legislation specifically toward the ability to provide US patent rights. US patents are defined as being, by the language contained in this section, as being for the purpose of promoting “the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective writings and discoveries.”

o    Legislation and United States Code (U.S.C.)
According to the authority provided by the aforementioned Constitutional language, Congress enacted the US Patent Act in 1790. The provisions of this legislation underwent codification in the terms of the language collected in Title 35 of the United States Code (U.S.C.). Sections 1-42 of Title 35 of the United States Code provides for the specific functions and powers exercised by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

•    Rights secured though a US Patent
A US patent is conceived of, in terms of the legal theory concerning this area of intellectual property law, in negative terms. In this sense, possessing a US patent will empower the holder specifically not toward using the patented invention, but toward preventing others from using the invention in a way not approved by the patent holder.

•    Additional rights through US Patents
A US patent issued specifically for original inventions of various kinds in the overall area of the medical field, such as in the form of an additive, medical device, or pharmaceutical, could be held for the longer period of 25 years, as opposed to the usual 20.

•    Other kinds of patents
A US patent will generally, as in the case of the terms and functions discussed above, be issued in the form of a utility patent. It might be noted, however, that a US patent could also be provided in the less common forms of design or plant patents. The former type will last for a shorter, 14-year period.

•    US patent requirements
In addition to the utility required for the main type of a US patent, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) maintains 4 additional requirements for utility US patents:
o    Patentable subject matter
o    Novelty: precludes inventions publicly available for too long before application is submitted.
o    Non-obvious: US patents are issued for inventions beyond the scope of a person with “ordinary skill in the art.”
o    Enablement: specification or disclosure of US patents.