Patent Law grants an inventor the right to exclude others from producing or using the inventor’s discovery or invention for a limited period of time. U.S. patent laws were enacted by Congress under its Constitutional grant of authority to protect the discoveries of inventors. The main body of patent law concerning patents is found in Title 35 of the United States Code. In the patent law for the invention to be patented it must be novel, useful, and not of an obvious nature. Such “utility” patents are issued for four general types of inventions/discoveries: machines, human made products, compositions of matter, and processing methods. Changing technology has led to an ever expanding understanding of what constitutes a human made product. Specific additions to the Patent Act provide, in addition, for design and plant patents.

U.S. patents give an inventor exclusive rights on the invention. The exclusive rights will prevent others to make, use, import, sell or offer to sell the invention without the inventor’s permission. In exchange for this grant, the inventors must disclose their invention to the public in the form of a patent application. U.S. patents do not grant inventors the right to make, use, sell, or import their inventions — only to exclude others from doing so.

United States patents pertains to the grant of a property right to the inventor to make, use, sell or offer to sell an invention. United States Patents are issued by the United States patents and Trademark Office. Generally, the term of United States patents is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the date an earlier related application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. United States patents grants are effective only within the United States, U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions. Under certain circumstances, United States patents term extensions or adjustments may be available.