What is a Patent?
A patent refers to a bundle of legal rights that allows a patent owner to exclude others from practicing an invention. Those rights include the right to exclude others from making, selling, offering to sell, and importing an invention.
In a looser sense, a patent also refers to the paper document that represents the bundle of legal rights owned by the patentee over an invention. This document is broadly divided into two sections-1) the specification and 2) the claims. The specification provides a technical description of the invention and is divided into sections, the most important of which is the detailed description. The claims, on the other hand, are the paragraphs found at the end of the patent document that encapsulate the patent owner's intellectual property rights over the invention.
Once you understand how your invention works and can describe it in writing, you should file for a patent as soon as possible. This is so because the person who is the first to file a patent application has priority over anyone else. The Patent Office, however, will not accept your application if it merely describes an idea for an invention. Instead, you must make sure that your application describes your invention in sufficient detail. Otherwise, the Patent Office will reject your application and you will not be eligible for a patent.
How Long Does It Take to Get a Patent?
The average amount of time it takes for a patent application to be reviewed by the Patent is a little less than three years. There is, however, a wide disparity in this amount of time depending on the area of technology to which your application belongs. For example, applications covering inventions related to semiconductors will take on average 29.3 months whereas inventions related to networking and telecommunications will take on average 40 months.
How Does the Patent Office Determine Whether a Patent Should Be Granted?
In order for the Patent Office to grant a patent, the patent applicant must meet several legal issues - 1) that the invention is novel; 2) that the invention is nonobvious; 3) that the invention meets the minimum requirements for patent eligible subject matter; 4) that the patent application describes the invention in sufficient detail.
What Is Patent Infringement?
In order to determine whether a patent is infringed, courts follow a two-step process. First, the claims found at the end of the patent must be interpreted in order to determine what the invention covers. Courts then compare the claims, as construed, to the invention in order to determine if there is a sufficient difference. If there is no such difference, then the accused defendant infringes.
A patent refers to a bundle of legal rights that allows a patent owner to exclude others from practicing an invention. Those rights include the right to exclude others from making, selling, offering to sell, and importing an invention.
In a looser sense, a patent also refers to the paper document that represents the bundle of legal rights owned by the patentee over an invention. This document is broadly divided into two sections-1) the specification and 2) the claims. The specification provides a technical description of the invention and is divided into sections, the most important of which is the detailed description. The claims, on the other hand, are the paragraphs found at the end of the patent document that encapsulate the patent owner's intellectual property rights over the invention.
Once you understand how your invention works and can describe it in writing, you should file for a patent as soon as possible. This is so because the person who is the first to file a patent application has priority over anyone else. The Patent Office, however, will not accept your application if it merely describes an idea for an invention. Instead, you must make sure that your application describes your invention in sufficient detail. Otherwise, the Patent Office will reject your application and you will not be eligible for a patent.
How Long Does It Take to Get a Patent?
The average amount of time it takes for a patent application to be reviewed by the Patent is a little less than three years. There is, however, a wide disparity in this amount of time depending on the area of technology to which your application belongs. For example, applications covering inventions related to semiconductors will take on average 29.3 months whereas inventions related to networking and telecommunications will take on average 40 months.
How Does the Patent Office Determine Whether a Patent Should Be Granted?
In order for the Patent Office to grant a patent, the patent applicant must meet several legal issues - 1) that the invention is novel; 2) that the invention is nonobvious; 3) that the invention meets the minimum requirements for patent eligible subject matter; 4) that the patent application describes the invention in sufficient detail.
What Is Patent Infringement?
In order to determine whether a patent is infringed, courts follow a two-step process. First, the claims found at the end of the patent must be interpreted in order to determine what the invention covers. Courts then compare the claims, as construed, to the invention in order to determine if there is a sufficient difference. If there is no such difference, then the accused defendant infringes.