An Introduction to the Patent System
- Congress protects inventorscapitol image by Andrew Breeden from Fotolia.com
Since 1790 the patent system has been important in helping grow the economy and quality of life within the United States. Today the system has most impact on the pharmaceutical and expanding biotechnology industries.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) had its roots in the U.S. Constitution under Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 whereby, "The Congress shall have Power...To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries...." From small beginnings the current patent system has become very complex. - Internationally, too, most countries now abide by the patent system. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) applies international patent laws globally through such treaties as the Berne Convention, the Hague Agreement, the Trademark Law Treaty and the Lisbon Agreement.
WIPO also maintains an international database of collected patent laws so that you can access and research the system electronically. - Even new plant varieties can be patentedcherry blossom in edison image by Sujit Mahapatra from Fotolia.com
The patent system may only protect your proposed patent idea if it meets specific criteria. Even in 1869, the United States Commissioner of Patents, Samuel Sparks, recognized that no more than 10 percent of all patents had any real commercial value.
Your invention or idea should ideally fit at least one of these following criteria: be a new innovation or invention; a step forward and not merely an obvious rehash of someone else's idea; be able to be made or used in industry; or be a new theory, scientific method or mathematical discovery. - Increasing workload for patent assessorsdiversity business workforce metaphor paper clips image by alma_sacra from Fotolia.com
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office cites litigation costs and patent infringement as stifling to innovation. But the U.S. patent system is also drowning in applications, according to an article by Mark A. Lemley, a professor specializing in intellectual property at Stanford Law School.
Patenting activity has grown substantially in the United States since the early 1980s.The U.S. Patent Office receives 450,000 applications a year and there's a backlog of 1 million applications and growing. - There is never a final rejection in the patent system.Frustrated Punk Businessman on his Cell Phone image by Scott Griessel from Fotolia.com
A determined patenter need never simply accept a rejected patent idea. You can go back an unlimited number of times after you've done a revision, and if the patent office denies your application again, you may keep resubmitting your modifications until it approves. - With better technology, duplications and mass submissions of inappropriate ideas will be weeded out more easily. Governments are also looking into new legislation to prevent forum-shopping whereby litigants take their patent dispute to the most sympathetic courts.
