Intellectual Property Law

The United States Patent and Trademark Office oversees the issuing of patents, which are used to protect inventors from forgery of their inventions being passed off as those of others. Patent...

If you’ve come up with a great invention, you may want to protect it by filing a Provisional Patent Application (PPA) with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It costs under $300 to...

Do you have an idea that you'd like to patent? First, the bad news: you can't actually patent an idea. But you can develop that idea into a workable product or device and receive a patent on your...

How to file a Provisional Patent Application

In the United States when you write a poem or take a photograph you immediately own the intellectual property rights, or copyright, to that item. You can control how that image or words are...

U.S. patents fall under two general categories: design and utility patents. A design patent may be for an entire article, like a new phone design, or can be an ornamentation applied to an article....

Patents are issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and are designed to prevent others from duplicating and profiting from an idea that is not their own. Provisional...

Patent pending is an everyday term that refers to the legal filing of a "provisional patent application" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). A provisional patent...

A design patent is a legal right to have a monopoly on an idea, at least for first 14 years. Patents are issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). A legal monopoly is a very powerful...

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...

Patent law has become fairly standardized worldwide. Nevertheless, the patent law of every country has individual quirks that set it a degree apart from other countries. Patent law in India is...

A patent gives you exclusive rights to your invention, meaning that others cannot, without your consent, profit from it or any device that might be construed as an imitation. If you are an...

Filing for a patent can be difficult, requiring a great deal of time, work and cost. Because of the complexity of the process, you should patent your work with the help of a patent professional or...

Quickly and inexpensively protect your invention or product with a provisional patent application and get "Patent Pending" status. A Provisional Patent Application secures a...

A patent is the right that is given to an inventor to protect the invention from being used or sold by anyone else during the time the patent is valid. To receive a patent, one must apply for it...

When considering whether an invention can be patented, the United State Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) considers the date when a patent application was filed as evidence of the invention....

Patents encourage innovation by helping inventors receive the financial benefits of their inventions. To be eligible for a patent, a physical new, original physical object must be designed, and it...

Patent applications are filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) by an inventor or by a patent attorney. The process of patenting an item or business model, otherwise known...

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...

All patents in the United States are issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). While the patent application process can be lengthy and complex, the USPTO offers a provisional patent...

Copyrights and patents serve to protect your rights to things you have created. Copyrights protect things like written works, musical scores, and photographs. Patents provide protection for...

The United States encourages technological development by protecting the rights of inventors with patents. These give the inventor exclusive right to manufacture or license their original product...

Generally speaking, the law does not provide patents for discoveries of natural substances. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) simply won't grant a patent on something that occurs with...

A patent granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) confers upon an inventor "the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling" the invention in...

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) allows inventors seeking a patent to write a description on the idea or technology to file a provisional patent application. Fees and basic...

You will find that inventors are able to protect themselves for under $200.00 by doing it themselves. Inventors should take the first step and apply for a Provisional Patent with the USPTO. This...

A little-know section of patent law allows individual inventors and small businesses to apply to the Patent Office for a provisional patent. The application is relatively easy, can be done...

Do you believe you have come up with a unique and useful idea that can be turned into an invention? If so, you are likely wondering what to do next in order to protect your great idea. While the...