Question

Learn all you can about Patents.: Then: 1) define patent; 2) what government agency grants patents and how long does a patent last; 3) what does it cost; 4) what can be patented (see the Patent Act of 1952); 5) what are the three types of patents; 6) do U.S. patents provide protection or rights only within the US and its territories; 7) what did Congress do in 1984 to protect patent holders from the exporting of patented components for assembly abroad; 8) what does the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 address?

Answer 1

A patent for an invention is the privilege or grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the USPTO (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 charges. U.S. patent grants are effective only within the United States territories, and U.S. possessions. Under certain circumstances, patent term extensions or adjustments may be available.

What can be invented?

The patent law defines the general area of subject matter that can be patented and the requirements under which a patent may be achieved.

In the language of the statute, 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.The word “process” is defined by law as a process, act, or method, and primarily includes industrial or technical processes. The term “machine” used in the statute needs no explanation. The term “manufacture” refers to articles that are made, and includes all manufactured articles. The term “composition of matter” relates to chemical compositions and may include mixtures of ingredients as well as new chemical compounds. These classes of subject matter taken together include practically everything that is made by man and the processes for making the products.

A patent cannot be obtained upon a mere idea or suggestion. The patent is granted upon the new machine, manufacture, etc., as has been said, and not upon the idea or suggestion of the new machine

The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 eliminates the patenting of inventions useful solely in the utilization of special nuclear substance or atomic power in an atomic weapon. See 42 U.S.C. 2181(a).

There are three types of patents:

1) Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, article of manufacture,machine, or composition of matter, or any unique and useful improvement thereof;
2) Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a original and new, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; and
3) Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.

6)Since the benefits or rights granted by a U.S. patent extend only throughout the territory of the United States and have no effect outside the US territory, an inventor who wants patent protection in other countries must apply for a patent in each of the other countries or in regional patent offices. Every country has its own patent law, and a person wanting a patent in a selective country must make an application for patent in that country, in accordance with the requirements of that country.

7) In 1984, Congress added section 271(f) to Title 35 to impose liability for exporting components of a patented invention for assembly abroad. With this change, Congress sought to close a perceived “loophole” in American patent law caused by Deepsouth and to discourage the movement of U.S. manufacturing abroad.

8) The Patent and Trademark Act Amendments of 1980, introduced as the University and Small Business Patent Procedures Act and commonly known as the Bayh-Dole Act, were enacted on December 12, 1980 (P.L. 96-517). The Bayh Dole Act established procedures through which universities, small businesses, and non-profit corporations could regulate intellectual property resulting from federally funded research. Co-sponsored by Senators Birch Bayh of Indiana and Robert Dole of Kansas, it was the conclusion of 17 years of efforts to address the enormous backlog of patents accumulated by the U.S. government, only 5% of which were commercially licensed, and the 26 different agency policies confronting anyone interested in government intellectual property.