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A modern patent provides the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention. Generally, patents are enforced only through private actions; namely, through civil lawsuits or licensing agreements. Governments typically reserve the right to suspend or cancel a patent at will.
An application for a patent (other than a design patent) must explain how to practice (i.e., make and/or use) the invention(s) and must also include " claims" that particularly point out the invention(s) and will define the protection conferred to the owner of the patent, once granted. Generally, the exclusive rights are limited to the invention(s) defined by the patent's claims. Patent claims are typically of the form of a long sentence, e.g., "An apparatus for catching mice comprising, a base member for placement on a flat surface, a spring member...", "A chemical for cleaning windows comprised of 10-15% ammonia, ...", "A method for computing future life expectancies, the method comprising gathering personal data including X,Y, Z, ...", etc.
Claim language formats and practices vary widely between different countries. Each word of a claim is considered an "element" or "limitation" of the claim. In order to exclude someone from using your invention in a court you will have to demonstrate to the court that what the other person is using is identical to the claimed invention. (Note, while the United States is moving towards more rigid claim interpretations and generally, issued patents have a large number of claims, "equivalents" of claim elements or limitations may be permitted in determining infringement. The practice elsewhere in the world differs.)
If an inventor takes an existing patented mouse trap design, modifies it to make an improved mouse trap, and obtains a patent on the improvement, he or she can legally build his or her improved mouse trap only with permission from the patent holder of the original mouse trap, assuming the original patent is still in force, and the patent holder of the original license has every right to deny the patent holder of the improvement use of the invention at any price. However, if the original patent owner tried to copy the inventor's improvement, he or she could sue that original patent owner to exclude him or her from using the improvement without permission.
Continuing the example though, if the inventor's improved mouse trap patent claims a guillotining member, but the original manufacturer copies other unclaimed aspects of the improvement, the inventor might not be able to exclude the manufacturer from using those other improvements.
For this reason, it is important, especially in the United States, that the patentee eventually obtain patent claims that include the absolute minimal set of limitations that differentiate a new invention over what came before. Dependent claims can be used to describe additional variations and features.
At this time, there are a number of significant international treaties governing patent law. The most universal of these is the WTOThe acronym WTO stands for the World Trade Organization the. TRIPs AgreementThe WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights TRIPs is an international agreement on the subject of " intellectual property". It covers copyright, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, industrial designs, geographical indicia an, to which almost all countries are a party. The United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in, European UnionFor other uses, see EU (disambiguation). The European Union or EU is a supranational organisation of 25 European states. It was established with that name by the Treaty on European Union (commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty) in 1992 but many aspects o, and JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honsh, are parties to all of the significant treaties. This has led to significant harmonization of patent law worldwide, particularly in the last decade of the 20th century19th century 20th century 21st century more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901- 2000 in the sense of the Gre and continuing into the 21st.
Procedurally, the United States system is perhaps one of the more unusual although some recent changes have brought the United States' system further into line with other major patent systems. The biggest difference that remains is that the US system awards the patent to the "first to invent", yet in the rest of the world the "first to file" is awarded the patent. In contests between different inventors over priority (called "interferences"), however, the second one to file has the burden of proof and usually loses such contests.
Patent grants are territorial in nature. Thus, patent protection in multiple countries require separate filings of patent applications in each country, or region, where protection is sought. Within Europe, a single patent application procedure is available through the European Patent Office, but successful applications result in multiple patents (up to 28) rather than a single European-wide patent. Such a European-wide unitary patent, or "community patent", has been the subject of discussion at the EU level since the 1970s, with no result so far.
Many of the international treaties are designed to afford some recognition of filing dates to patent applications filed in one country. In this respect, the most important treaty is the Paris Convention. Typically, inventors are allowed one year from the date of their filing in their home country to file the application abroad, frequently called national stage filing. Systems such as the Patent Cooperation Treaty (or PCT) allow inventors a cost effective way to further delay national stage filings.
The authority for patent statutes in different countries varies. In the United States, the Patent and Trademark Office gets its authority from Article One, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. In other countries, the origin may be a statute or other law or rule.
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