Brief Answers to Common Questions

About Patents

Q. What is a patent?

A. A patent is a grant issued by the United States Government giving an inventor the right to exclude all others from making, using, or selling his invention within the United States, its territories and possessions.

Q. What is the term of a patent?

A. Seventeen years; except for design patents, the terms of which are either 31⁄2, 7, or 14

years.

Q. May the term of a patent be extended?

A. No; except by special act of Congress.

Q. After a patent has expired, may anyone make, use, or sell the device which was patented without the permission of the patentee?

A. Yes.

Q. On what subject matter may a patent be granted?

A. A patent may be granted on any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, or on any distinct and new variety of plant, other than a tuber-propagated plant, which is asexually reproduced, or on any new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.

Q. On what subject matter may a patent not be granted?

A. A patent may not be granted on a useless device, on printed matter, on a method of doing business, on an improvement in a device which is the result of mere mechanical skill, nor for a machine which will not operate, particularly for any alleged perpetual motion machine.

Q. Is an idea patentable?

A. No patent is granted on a mere idea or suggestion.

Q. Who may obtain a patent?

A. Anyone, as long as he is the inventor. There are no restrictions as to age or sex.

Q. May a foreign citizen obtain a United States patent?

A. Yes; under exactly the same conditions as a United States citizen.

Q. If two or more men work together to produce an invention who obtains the patent? A. A patent is issued to them jointly.

Q. May a patent be granted if an inventor dies before filing his application?

A. Yes; the application may be filed by the inventor's executor or administrator.

Q. How does one apply for a patent?

A. By making the proper application to the Commissioner of Patents.

Q. Of what does a patent application consist?

A. An application fee, a petition, specifications describing the invention, an oath, and in most cases a drawing. Before the patent is issued a final fee must also be paid.

Q. Are models required as part of the application?

A. Only in the most exceptional cases. The Patent Office has the right to demand a model, but rarely exercises it.

Q. What is the best way to prepare an application?

A. As the preparation and prosecution of an application is a highly complex proceeding it generally should be conducted by an attorney trained in this specialized practice. The Patent Office therefore advises inventors to employ a competent patent attorney or agent who is registered in the Patent Office. No attorney or agent not registered in the Patent Office may prosecute applications.

Q. Is it necessary to go to the Patent Office in Washington to transact business concerning patent matters?

A. No; in general all business with the Patent Office is conducted by correspondence.

Q. Can the Patent Office give advice as to whether an inventor should apply for a patent? A. No; the Patent Office can give no assistance until a case comes regularly before it in the manner prescribed by law.

Q. Is it advisable to conduct a search of patents and other records before applying for a patent?

A. Yes; if it is found that the device is shown in some prior patent it is useless to make application. By making a search beforehand the expense involved in filing a needless application is often saved.

Q. Where may a search be conducted?

A. The Patent Office has available for use of the public classified and numerically arranged sets of United States patents and also patents of practically every foreign country. Also many large libraries in the United States and abroad have bound volumes of United States patents. In addition, the Patent Office has available copies of over 2 and a half million United States patents which are sold to the public for 25 cents each. In the last fiscal year over 4,000,000 copies were sold.

Q. May applications be examined out of their regular order?

A. No; all applications are examined in the order in which they are filed, except under certain very special conditions.

Q. Is information given about applications pending in the Patent Office?

A. No; pending applications are preserved in secrecy.

Q. What happens when two inventors apply for a patent for the same invention?

A. An "interference" is declared. Testimony may be submitted by each applicant and the Patent Office decides which one made the invention first (not which one made the application first) and grants him the patent.

Q. What may be done if a patent examiner refuses to grant a patent?

A. The inventor may take his case to the Board of Appeals (within the Patent Office), and from there to the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. From the latter court he may appeal to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Q. Does the Patent Office retain jurisdiction over a patent after it has been issued? A. No; any questions arising about the scope or validity of a patent after it has been issued come within the jurisdiction of the United States courts.

Q. May the owner of a patent assign his interest or part of his interest in it to someone else? A. Yes.

Q. What do the terms "patent pending” and “patent applied for” mean?

A. They inform the public that an application has been filed in the Patent Office, but they have no effect in law.

Q. Does a United States patent give protection in foreign countries?

A. No; a patent must be obtained in each country where protection is desired.

Q. How does one obtain information as to patent applications, fees, and other details concerning patents?

A. By writing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington 25, D. C. The Patent Office will send free, on request, a pamphlet entitled "General Information Concerning Patents.”