For the purpose of promoting “ the Progress of Science and useful Arts, ” Clause 8 of the United States Constitution allows “ for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries....” In other words, our country ’ s founders believed that to reward innovation and creativity, those responsible for such advancements, should be given a limited time where they have exclusive rights to their innovations.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is the body that decides whether or not an inventor is entitled to patent protection for his or her invention. At the most general level, patents can be awarded for any “ new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement there of.... ” 35 U.S. Code § 101. Put another way, patents are the mechanism through which utilitarian innovations are protected, in contrast to trademarks which protect branding, and copyrights which protect artistic expression.
Ultimately a patent is a legal but technical document that defines a property right. The patent includes a disclosure that teaches third parties how to build and practice an invention. This disclosure is the bargain made under the patent system. Specifically, if the statutory requirements for patentability are met, the U.S. government will, in exchange for an inventor ’ s disclosure, grant that inventor an exclusive right in the invention for a period of twenty years from the application filing date. Should multi - national patent protection be desired, the U.S. is a member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty which allows patent rights to be pursued in multiple countries through a single application and more streamlined process.
At Winder Intellectual Property Law, we work with inventors in preparing patent applications for their inventions at both the national and international level. We also represent those inventors through the examination process to help navigate the complex interactions that ultimately determine the scope of the property right granted.
