A US patent gives the owner the right to manufacture, use and sell products that fall under the scope of the invention. This is determined by the legal claims listed in the patent.
A US patent gives the owner the right to exclude others from making, using or selling products under the scope in the United States for a period of 20 years. In other words, the inventor is granted a legal monopoly for up to 20 years.
Unique, useful and novel
The US Patent Office says that in order to get a patent the inventive matter must be unique. In other words, it cannot be something that is known or anticipated by someone experienced in the trade (the field of your invention).
Patentable inventions must also be useful. In other words, inventing a square tire would not be considered useful. (Unless of course you wanted to use them to permanently park vehicles...ha!)
Last, an invention must be novel. If your invention was known in any other part of the world at any time before you discovered or created it, you can't file and expect to obtain a valid US. There is an exception to this rule however, referred to as the one-year rule.
In the United States, an inventor can file a patent application up to one year after an initial public disclosure. This means that you can be actively marketing and earning profits on your inventions for an entire year and still file US Patent applications. However, you will have lost the right to file international applications since most countries require they must be filed before any public disclosure is made. To preserve your international filing rights, the patent application you file can be the inexpensive ($80) provisional patent application, which displays your cash outlay.
In addition to the United States, both the Canada and Mexico are in accord with the one-year rule of the US.
These are the two most common types of patents. Almost always, the stronger type of patent is a utility patent. Design patents only refer to the ornamental appearance. Utility patents can refer to a product, apparatus, process, system, machinery and much more. That is where your focus should be. Don't waste a lot of time on design patents that are easy to design around. This is especially true when you consider that filing a provisional patent application usually costs less to file than a design patent application.
As of June 8, 1995, the United States enacted new laws allowing inventors the right to file what is now called a provisional patent application. Simply put, this is a greatly simplified patent application that only requires a description of the invention and the drawings. It costs $80 to file. It remains on file at the US Patent Office for one year. Before the end of one year the inventor must file the permanent (or regular) patent application or he/she will lose the priority filing date. Both give the inventor the right to post "patent pending" until the final patent application is granted. To learn more about provisional applications and how your can write your own...
Regular patent applications include the invention's specifications and drawings as well as an abstract and the legal claims. Every successful inventor we know employs a patent attorney or patent agent to write the legal claims. If you follow the tenets of From Patent to Profit you'll learn how to do this in a timely manner (within one year of filing your provisional patent application). Thus, you'll be able to have an entire year's productivity and sales behind you, making it more affordable.