A U.S. patent for an invention
is the grant of a property right to the inventor(s), issued by the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The right conferred by the patent
grant
is, in the language of the statute and of the grant itself, "the right
to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling"
the invention in the United States or "importing" the invention into
the United States. To get a U.S. patent, an application must be filed
in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
File
a Utility Patent Application
Utility
patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and
useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or compositions of
matters, or any new useful improvement thereof.
File
a Design Patent Application
Design
patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental
design for an article of manufacture.
File
a Plant Patent Application
Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually
reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.
File
a patent application electronically
Use EFS,
the USPTO's electronic filing system for patent applications, to submit
Utility
patent applications, Provisional applications,
electronic information disclosure statements (eIDS),
patent assignments, computer readable format (CRF)
biosequencelistings, and
pre-grant publication submissions to the USPTO
via the Internet.
NOTE: At this time, EFS does not
accept Design applications, New Plant applications, Reissue applications,
International Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications
or Reexamination requests.
For
more general information about patents and the operations of the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office, see General
Information Concerning Patents
>> Also
read about Patent
Types
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