Biomedical Engineering:
Wendy Way
wendy.way@library.rochester.edu
Chemical Engineering:
Sue Cardinal
scardinal@library.rochester.edu
Electrical and Computer Engineering:
Arjay Romanowski
arjay.romanowski@rochester.edu
Mechanical Engineering &
The Institute of Optics:
Ben Mitchell
bmitch15@library.rochester.edu
Business & Economics
Kathy Wu
KathyW@library.rochester.edu
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Generally, the term of a new patent 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. U.S. patent grants are effective only within the United States, U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions. Under certain circumstances, patent term extensions or adjustments may be available.
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. What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention. Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the USPTO.
There are three types of patents.
Utility patents are for any new or useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof. Most patents are utility patents. Utility patents are protected for 20 years.
Design Patents are granted for a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. Design patents protect the way something looks, not how it is used. Design patents are protected for 15 years.
Plant patents are granted for a distinct and new variety of plant that is asexually reproduced, not including a tuber propagated plant or plants found in an uncultivated state. Plant patents last 20 years.
To qualify for a patent, the invention must be new and non-obvious. The patent should provide enough information that someone skilled in the field can be able to reproduce it. Once you decide that your invention is patent-able, you will need to do a preliminary patent search.
