Although, the length of utility and plant patent protection (patent term) was previously seventeen years from the date of patent grant, utility and plant patents filed after June 8, 1995 now have a patent term of up to twenty years from the date of filing of the earliest related patent application. Utility and plant patents which were applied for prior to June 8, 1995, and which were or will be in force after June 8, 1995, now have a patent term of seventeen years from the date of patent grant or twenty years from the date of filing of the earliest related patent application, whichever is longer. Utility patents are subject to the payment of periodic maintenance fees to keep the patent in force. Patent terms can be extended under some specific circumstances. See the U.S. Code Title 35 - Patents for a full description of patent laws. "The increased importance of intellectual property assets like patents and patent portfolios, along with the added complexity of valuing and analyzing risk for these information goods, has created a marketplace populated by players ill-equipped to handle the high transaction costs and information asymmetries representative of inteHectual property transactions. Accordingly, entities that can lower net transaction costs and improve information access will be able to take advantage of the unique nature of these assets." (Allen Wang, 2010, Berkeley Technology Law Journal, "Rise of the Patent Intermediaries") the tools atIPstreet.com could be a game changer. We offer tools that can help you dig into complicated patent information and make sense of all of the complexities in relation to your inventions and how you want to commercialize them. Certainly we are in business to make a few dollars, but we emphasize that our top priority is to provide IP intelligence (IPI) to help you succeed. With this in mind, we are in the process of developing ClubInnovate, an exclusive community for inventors. |