Patents What is a Patent?

Patents
What is a Patent?
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United
States Patent and Trademark Office. Generally, the term of a new patent is 20 years from the date
on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the
date an earlier related application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. U.S.
patent grants are effective only within the United States, U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions.
Under certain circumstances, patent term extensions or adjustments may be available.
The right conferred by the patent grant is “the right to exclude others from making, using,
offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into
the United States. What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but
the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the
invention. Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the
USPTO.