Utility Patent Applications

Generally, utility patents are directed to, pursuant to United States Patent Law, processes, machines, articles of manufacture, or compositions of matter (35 U.S.C. § 101). In addition to relating to one of these categories, in order to become patented, the invention must be new and/or useful such as a useful improvement of an existing process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter. Courts have interpreted these statutory categories do not include “laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas.” Unlike in Europe, methods for the treatment of a human or animal body by surgery or therapy as well as diagnostic methods practiced on a human or animal body may be patented in the United States. The person(s) seeking patent protection must truly be the inventor(s) of the invention. Any inventor may be under an agreement or obligation to assign the invention to another entity but remains identified as an inventor on the patent even though the entity has ownership of the patent.

A provisional patent application is an application that does not have the strict formal requirements that are required in a nonprovisional patent application. It merely allows the invention to be disclosed to the USPTO to establish a priority date, which is the date the USPTO recognizes as the date of the invention. A provisional patent application is not subject to prosecution, but its disclosure does remain confidential at the Office. The invention may then be disclosed to the public without necessarily compromising the rites of the invention, but a nonprovisional patent application must be filed within one year of when the provisional application is filed in order to perfect the rites of the invention through prosecution before the USPTO. A nonprovisional patent application may also be filed without first entering a provisional patent application. A utility patent that is allowed is valid for 20 years following the filing date of the nonprovisional patent application assuming maintenance fees continued to be paid on the patent.

Design Patent Applications

A design patent protects the ornamental appearance of an article of manufacture. Such appearance may include the object’s shape and/or the decoration included on the object. The functional aspects of the object may not be protected by the design patent. A design patent is valid for 15 years following the date when the patent is granted. Unlike utility patents, design patents do not a maintenance fee in order to remain valid over that 15-year period.

Plant Patent Applications

A new and distinct variety of asexually reproduced plants me by the inventive subject-matter of a plant patent application. The plant patent application must include a botanical description of the plant that details its new characteristics. Drawings or photographs that show the plants distinctive features should also be included in the patent application. Information concerning the genus and species designation must also be included along with the details concerning how the plant was asexually reproduced. A plant patent duration is the same as that for utility patents—i.e., 20 years from the date the application is filed, but they do not require the payment of maintenance fees.

International Patent Applications Under the Patent Cooperation Treaty

An international application under the PCT may also be filed in the USPTO. These applications generally entitle the applicant to seek patent protection either in the United States or other ”contracting states”, which number in excess of 150 currently, over the course of eighteen months after the PCT application is filed. These contracting states include the European Union (“EU”) along with any member country of the EU, China, Canada, Mexico, and Japan as well as the United States of course.