What Is a Patent?

A patent is the granting of a property right by a sovereign authority to an

inventor. This grant provides the inventor exclusive rights to the patented
process, design, or invention for a designated period in exchange for a
comprehensive disclosure of the invention.

Government agencies typically handle and approve applications for patents. In

the United States, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which is
part of the Department of Commerce, handles applications and grants
approvals.

Understanding Patents
Most patents are valid for 20 years in the U.S. from the date the application
was filed with the USPTO, although there are circumstances whereby
exceptions are made to extend a patent's term. U.S. patents are only valid in
the United States and U.S. Territories.

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a patent can be granted
to any person who:

Invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or

composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may
obtain a patent, subject to the conditions and requirements of the law.
There are three types of patents:

1. Utility patents cover anyone who invents a new and useful process,
article of manufacture, machine, or a composition of matter.
2. Design patents include an original, new, and ornamental design for a
manufactured product.
3. Plant patents go to anyone who produces, discovers, and invents a
new kind of plant capable of reproduction.

Patents provide an incentive for companies or individuals to continue

developing innovative products or services without the fear of
infringement. For example, large pharmaceutical companies can spend
billions of dollars on research and development. Without patents, their drugs
and medicines could be duplicated and sold by companies that didn't research
or invest the needed capital for R&D.

In other words, patents protect the intellectual property of companies to help

their profitability. However, patents also serve as bragging rights for
companies demonstrating their innovativeness.

How to Apply for a Patent

Before making a formal application, an applicant should research the Patent
and Trademark Office's database to see if another person or institution has
claimed a patent for a similar invention. The invention must be different from
or an improvement upon a previous design to be considered for a patent. It is
important for applicants to take care to maintain accurate records of the
design process and the steps taken to create the invention. Enforcing the
patent is up to the person or entity that applied for the patent.

To apply for a patent in the United States, the applicant submits specific
documents and pays associated fees. Written documentation includes
drawings, descriptions, and claims of the item to be patented. A formal oath or
declaration confirming the authenticity of the invention or improvement of an
existing invention must be signed and submitted by the inventor. After fee
payment, the application is reviewed and either approved or denied.

Patents protect the intellectual property of companies and help ensure their
profitability, but patents also serve as marketing for a company's innovation.
Patent Statistics
The USPTO receives more than 500,000 patent applications per year with just
over 300,000 of them granted. The agency has over 11,000 employees,
whereby approximately 75% of them are patent examiners while the
remaining work in the legal and technical areas.

In June of 2018, the USPTO issued its 10 millionth patent. Many patents
issued go to companies in the technology industry where Apple was granted
2,000 in 2018. Microsoft and Google were also granted patents. However,
IBM typically receives more than any company in the U.S.—IBM was granted
over 9,000 patents in 2017 alone as reported by CNN Money.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 A patent is the granting of a property right by a sovereign authority to an

inventor.
 A patent provides the inventor exclusive rights to the patented process,
design, or invention for a certain period in exchange for a complete
disclosure of the invention.
 In June of 2018, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued its 10
millionth patent.
Examples of Patents
One of the most notable patents in the past 40 years was the personal
computer filed in 1980 by Steve Jobs and three other employees of Apple Inc.

King C. Gillette patented the razor in 1904 and was dubbed a "safety razor."
Garrett Morgan was granted a patent for the traffic light in 1923. The patent for
the television was issued in 1930 to Philo Taylor Farnsworth for the "first
television system."1

At age 20, Farnsworth had created the first electric television image and went
on to invent an early model of the electronic microscope.

What is the Difference Between Copyright, Patent and

Trademark?

Copyright, patent, and trademark are all different types of intellectual property (IP).
Although the three types of IP are very different, people often confuse them.

A brief description of copyright, patents, and trademarks, including a brief discussion

of how these forms of IP differ from copyright, is provided below.

What’s Copyright?
A copyright is a collection of rights automatically vested to you once you have created
an original work. To understand how these rights can be used or licensed, it is helpful
to analogize them to a bundle of sticks, where each stick represents a separate right
vested to you as the owner. These rights include the right to reproduce the work, to
prepare derivative works, to distribute copies, to perform the work publicly, and to
display the work publicly.
As the copyright owner, you have the authority to keep each “stick,” to transfer them
individually to one or more people, or to transfer them collectively to one or more
people. This can be accomplished through licensing, assigning, and other forms of
transfers. The power of copyright allows you to choose the way your work is made
available to the public.

What’s Patent?
The primary goal of the patent law is to encourage innovation and commercialization
of technological advances. Patent law incentivizes inventors to publicly disclose their
inventions in exchange for certain exclusive rights. A patent protects inventions.
These inventions can include new and useful processes, machines, manufactures,
compositions of matter as well as improvements to these. Certain computer programs
may fall within the subject matter protected by both patents and copyrights. In this
respect the patent system compliments copyright protection by providing protection
for functional aspects of the software, which are not protected by copyright. Unlike
with copyright protection, to get patent protection one must first apply for and be
granted a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Unlike the
copyright registration process, the patent application process is expensive, complex,

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difficult, and time consuming and generally should not be attempted without the
assistance of an experienced patent attorney or agent.

What’s Trademark?
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes
the source of the goods of one party from those of others. A service mark is a word,
phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of a service
rather than goods. Examples include brand names, slogans, and logos. (The term
“trademark” is often used in a general sense to refer to both trademarks and service
marks.) Similar to copyright, a person does not need not register a trademark or
service mark to receive protection rights, but there are certain legal benefits to
registering the mark with the USPTO. There is rarely an overlap between trademark
and copyright law but it can happen — for instance, when a graphic illustration is used
as a logo the design may be protected both under copyright and trademark.2

What Are the Different Types of Patents?

by
Joe Runge, Esq.
Scientist & Attorney

What Are the Different Types of Patents?

by Joe Runge, Esq., August 2016

Congress grants inventors different kinds of patents to protect different kinds of inventions.
Learning how to use each kind of patent application will help any inventor better utilize the U.S.
Patent Office to protect his or her invention.

What are the different types of patents?

Different types of patent applications exist so that inventors can protect different kinds of
inventions. Savvy inventors can utilize the different kinds of patent applications to secure the rights
they need to protect their inventions. There are four different patent types:

 A utility patent is what most people think of when they think about a patent. It is a long,
technical document that teaches the public how to use a new machine, process, or system.
The kinds of inventions protected by utility patents are defined by Congress. New
technologies like genetic engineering and internet-delivered software are challenging the
boundaries of what kinds of inventions can receive utility patent protection.

 A provisional patent goes hand in glove with a utility patent. United States law allows
inventors to file a less formal document that proves the inventor was in possession of
the invention and had adequately figured out how to make the invention work. Once that is
on file, the invention is patent pending. If, however, the inventor fails to file a formal utility

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 patent within a year from filing the provisional patent, he or she will lose this filing date. Any
public disclosures made relying on that provisional patent application will now count as
public disclosures to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

 A design patent protects an ornamental design on a useful item. The shape of a bottle or the
design of a shoe, for example, can be protected by a design patent. The document itself is
almost entirely made of pictures or drawings of the design on the useful item. Design
patents are notoriously difficult to search simply because there are very few words used in a
design patent. In recent years, software companies have used design patents to protect
elements of user interfaces and even the shape of touchscreen devices.

 A plant patent is just that: a patent for a plant. Plant patents protect new kinds of plants
produced by cuttings or other nonsexual means. Plant patents generally do not cover
genetically modified organisms and focus more on conventional horticulture.

Which type of patent should I file?

Why file a patent when you can file two? A provisional patent, for example, affords inventors an
extra year of time in order to decide if and how to file a utility patent. A provisional patent
application is just one example of how an inventor can use multiple patent filings to mitigate risk,
hedge a bet, or expand patent protection.

For example, you are hard at work beating eggs with a whisk when you realize that if you curve the
tines and flatten them slightly you could produce delicious scrambled eggs in half the time. You 3D
print a prototype and, in addition to its working beautifully, you realize the reshaped tines produce a
very distinctive look.

As you apply for a patent, consider all the ways to protect your new device. You can file a design
patent to protect the distinctive look of your improved egg beater. You can file a utility patent to
protect the machine itself and the way it works. You can even file a provisional patent application to
give yourself more time to file your utility application. The different types of applications exist to
give inventors options.

For example, you may have three design concepts for your egg beater that you initially test. They all
work about as well, so you include drawings and a description of each in a provisional patent
application. A few months into your testing, you discover one design is not durable—breaking after a
few uses. While talking with potential licensees, you discover that another design is difficult to
manufacture due to the tine geometry. The egg beater would cost more to produce than anyone
would pay for a kitchen gadget. As you start to write your utility patent, you will know what design
to emphasize and where to focus your patent strategy.

Different patent filings give you different options. Your egg beater provisional patent gives you a
year to learn more about the device and the possible market for your patent. As you weigh your
options, keep in mind that filing a patent has consequences. The USPTO publishes utility patent
applications a few months after they are filed. At that point, your application is prior art against all
future inventions. Be sure to file patents strategically to avoid tripping over your own inventions.3

different types of patent applications, including the following:

 Reissue application: You must file a reissue application if your existing and
unexpired patent becomes invalid or defective for some reason. This application
should contain the same scope of information as the original patent.
 Divisional application: A patent examiner from the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office (USPTO) can ask for a divisional application if an invention
includes more than one patentable part. Each patent application must cover just
one invention.

 Continuation application: If you need to add new matter to a patent that hasn't
been abandoned or approved, you can submit a continuation application. It
allows the patent examiner to take new information into account. There are strict
rules against the addition of "new matter". The rules pertain to circumstance
when a person attempts to add new matter to a patent application that was
already filed. Adding new material as well as new information when you are filing
your application is completely acceptable. You will be given an updated filing
priority date when the continuation-in-part patent application is filed. The new
date will only apply to the new matter. A continuation-in-part application is a
patent application filed during the lifetime of an earlier non-provisional application,
repeating some substantial portion or all of the earlier non-provisional application
and adding matter not disclosed in the said earlier non-provisional application. If
any rejections exist for a non-provisional application, filing a continuation-in-part
doesn't assume that the applicant is complying or accepting those rejections. The
continuation-in-part has nothing to do with anything related to any denials of the
initial non-provisional application.

Each type of patent has its own set of requirements. After you file your patent
application, the USPTO will assign a patent examiner. He or she reviews your
application forms and compares them against current patents.
Utility patents are the most common type of patent. However, design patents prove
cheaper to get, so inventors often start with them.

Common Mistakes

Try to avoid the most common mistakes that deal with types of patents, including these:

Wrong patent: Don't file for a patent unless you're sure it's the right one. Ask a patent
lawyer to help if you're at all confused.

Too many claims: You can only file a single claim with your patent application. You can
get more than one patent for an invention, but each patent must cover a single part of
that invention.

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Broadness: Don't file for any type of patent if the descriptions are too broad. You might
attract patent trolls, people who buy patents from other companies and sue other
businesses for infringement.

Waiting to file: After you offer a product for sale, the USPTO gives you one year to file a
provisional or non-provisional patent. If you wait longer, you can no longer get a patent
for that invention.

Public use: The USPTO also sets limits for public use. If you display your invention, you
have 12 months to file for a patent.

Poor application: Even if your application has merit, the USPTO might deny it because it
doesn't have the right information. Always work with a patent lawyer or agent to make
sure you submit a sound application.4

Why Do You Need to Know the Different Types of Patents?

If you want to protect an invention, you need a patent. Otherwise, someone else can
make the same product and sell it. A patent protects intellectual property. It also allows
inventors to create unique new products and processes, which can help boost the
economy.
However, since different types of patents exist, you'll need to know which type to file. If
you file a design patent application for a product's usefulness, the USPTO will deny the
application. Often times, a utility patent and a design patent are enough to provide the
necessary patent protection. Filing both a utility patent and a design patent application
could prove beneficial if your invention is unique in its structure and its function in
addition to being a one of a kind design. The added benefit is that a utility and a design
patent application will mark your invention as "patent pending" at the Patent Office. You
are urged to discuss the path that best suits your particular situation prior to moving
forward.
You also need to know about the requirements for each type of patent:

Design patents: The USPTO grants design patents for designs that prove original, unique, and novel.
The design must also apply to a product that consumers can use. For instance, you can't patent a
painting or a sculpture that has no use. However, you can copyright those items. While design
patents are much easier to acquire, they are nearly impossible to enforce and they typically have no
substantial worth. Placing a design patent on file will cost around $1,000. You should additionally
plan on around $2,500 to get through issuance.

Utility patents: You can get a utility patent as long as your product's usefulness is unique and non-
obvious. The claim in the patent must relate to the way the product works. The cost of a utility
application ranges from $7,000 to $10,000. These fees cover the search, draft and filing with the
patent office. You should plan on an additional $10,000 - $15,000 to get through issuance.

Plant patents: The USPTO approves plant patents for plants that have never existed or been found
before. The plant must reproduce asexually, and the new plant species must be unique. The fee to

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place a plant patents on file is roughly $1,000. Additionally, plan on another $2,500 or more through
issuance.

The USPTO demands detailed information when you file for a patent. For instance, you must create
drawings, usually in black ink, that illustrate an invention's design or utility. Other documents
needed include the following:

Claim: Each patent needs a single claim. It should state the invention's purpose or unique design in
simple words.

Title: Use common words to title a patent. Titles usually have just one or two words that consumers
would recognize, such as "bench," "washing machine," or "belt."

Specification: The total written and illustrated contents of a patent application.

Cross reference: This document claims priority for your patent. You must list current patent
applications.

Disclosure: If you used federal or sponsored money for your invention, you must let the USPTO
know.

Background: You can write a simple description about how the invention came about.

Figures: Label your drawings with figure numbers. In a document, label each figure with simple
wording.

Abstract: You can also offer a document that summarizes the whole application.

You must also learn what your patent protects. If you get a patent on your invention, you'll need to
know how to defend it. If you know the types of patents and their definitions, you can do more
detailed research.

When Should You File for a Patent?

You don't have to file for a patent, but you should if you want to protect your rights to your
invention. If you decide you want a patent, you should file as quickly as you can. The USPTO issues
patents based on the "first to file" standard. In other words, even if you created an invention first, if
someone else files for a patent on the same invention before you, they will get the patent.

Also, patent applications can take a long time to get approved. The average pendency is 28.1
months, though some patents get approved within as few as 18 months.
When Should You Not File for a Patent?

If your invention won't qualify for a patent, don't waste time and money on filing. You can ask a
patent lawyer to help you decide whether your invention meets the USPTO's standards.

You might also want to delay filing for a patent if you're not sure your product can perform
commercially. Many great ideas never lead to actual products on the market. You may not want to
waste money on patenting an idea that you'll never use to make money.5

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