ubiquitary

A patent is a property right for an invention granted by a government to the inventor. A United States patent gives inventors the right "to exclude others" from making, using, offering for sale, or selling their invention throughout the United States or importing their invention into the United States. In exchange for this monopolistic protection, the inventor must publicly disclose the invention (the patent document) and must pay the United States Patent Office (USPTO.gov) to prosecute (application fees) and maintain (maintenance fees) the patent.

Take the quiz and test your intellectual property intelligence. For example do you know, Which of the following mechanisms provides to an inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention? Would the answer be copyright, trademark, non-discloser agreement or patent? Take the quiz on www.ipstreet.com and find out!

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.