Patents

The connection between a patent and a license is an often confused area of law that can lead to lawsuits. The rights you have to your invention are not absolute but are protected by the constitution.

U.S. patent law provides that the process, act or method by which something is made is patentable. This did not include business methods until a 1988 Supreme Court decision cleared the way for the...

A patent is the type of legal protection granted to inventors to secure their intellectual property rights for their work. The authority for granting patents is stated in Article 1, Section 8 of...

Title 35 of the U.S. Code contains the laws on patents. Part II, Chapter 10 of Title 35 is entitled "Patentability of Inventions." This part of the law establishes four distinct tests, all of...

If you have a new invention that you want to patent in the U.S., all patents are issued by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, which has stringent requirements for all applications. Your new...

If you have an idea for a new invention that no one's thought of before, perhaps the first thing to come to mind is that you should patent your idea. Every wondrous invention that made a mark on...

If you're an inventor of a useful, novel and nonobvious tool, article of manufacture, business process or even if you've discovered a unique way to make improvements to an existing patent, the...

A patent search can be expensive, challenging and time-consuming. But the rigorous and costly process of obtaining a patent makes it wise to first make sure no one else has patented your idea...

Patent infringement occurs when someone makes, uses or sells a patented invention without the permission of the patent holder.

If you're the creator of a brand new invention, you could just be sitting on a goldmine--especially if your invention appeals to the consumer market. Your first order of business is to acquire...

Patents are government-issued licenses that protect the inventor of a specific creation, providing an opportunity to realize the economic fruits of the invention. The patent process is fairly...

The U.S. does not issue patents on ideas, at least not absent some actual invention that incorporates the idea. The purpose of patents is to encourage innovation by protecting the rights of an...

If you have an idea for an invention, before you patent it you should check to see if it's already been invented by some other inventor in the past. Though actually, whether or not it's been...

Do you have the next great idea? If you can describe it well, it's possible to own the idea so no one can claim it for themselves. To find out how to obtain a patent, keep reading.