PATENT LAW

A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. 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 fees. U.S. patent grants are effective only within the United States and its territories and possessions.

The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and of the grant itself, “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States. What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention.

United States patent laws are codified at Title 35 of the U.S. Code. Patent rules and regulations are codified at Title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations. International cooperation between nations is largely governed by the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the Paris Convention, which deals with the protection of industrial property (i.e., patents, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, service marks, trade names, indications of source or appellations of origin, and the repression of unfair competition). To stay abreast of recent changes in patent procedure check Recent Patent-Related Notices, which is provided by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

PowerPoint Presentations:

Recent Developments in Patent Law  - Supreme Court and Federal Circuit Cases
Contributed by: Nixon Peabody LLP
By: Russell J. Genet

Global Patent Issues 
Contributed by: Nixon Peabody LLP
By: Ronald I. Eisenstein