Patent Law
Ideas for useful articles may qualify for patent protection once that idea is fleshed out enough that it can be built (when it is "reduced to practice"). Patents are a property right granted by the federal government that rewards people for contributing useful inventions to society. In exchange for inventing something useful and teaching the rest of society how to make and use the invention, the government gives the inventor the a right to exclude others from making, using, offering to sell, selling or importing the invention for a period of time.
Getting a patent does not give the inventor the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import the invention, but only the ability to exclude others from doing so. For example, a patented death ray is probably still going to be illegal to sell. Similarly, a patent for an improvement to an existing product will not allow the inventor to sell the improved product if doing so would infringe someone else’s patent.
After a utility patent is granted and the issue fee is paid, it is enforceable for 20 years from the effective filing date, provided that the periodic maintenance fees are paid to keep the patent in force.
Patents are the most difficult of the intellectual property rights to obtain. Only a registered patent attorney or agent is able to prosecute a patent for an inventor. Steve O’Donnell is a registered patent attorney and works on behalf of inventors of all sizes to obtain the most protection they are legally entitled to under the law.
