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What can a Patent Attorney do to help me?
An Intellectual Property attorney deals with issues relating to patents, copyrights and trademarks, royalties, marketing and publishing rights, franchising, and other related aspects of commercial law. Intellectual property lawyers also deal with domain names and e-commerce, as well as other legal areas relating to technology.
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Featured El Centro Patent Attorneys
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Additional Featured El Centro Patent Attorneys |
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General El Centro Patent Listings
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Related Topics:
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Copyrights
Patents
Trademarks
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Patent Law
A patent is a property right granted to an inventor that excludes others from producing, using, selling, and offering that invention for sale for a specified period of time (in most cases the term is 20 years). Patents are granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and are granted only if an invention is shown to be novel, useful, and not of an obvious nature. Patents granted are effective only within the United States and U.S. territories and possessions.
There are three types of patents:
Utility patents - which may be granted to anyone who discovers or invents a new and useful composition, machine, or improves an existing one
Design patents - these may be granted for new and original designs of an article or production
Plant patents - which may be granted to anyone who discovers, produces, or reproduces a new variety of plant
Congress was given power to enact laws relating to patents to encourage and promote the progress of science and useful arts. The patent laws specify what can be patented and the conditions under which a patent may be obtained. What the language of the law says is that any person who invents or discovers any new and useful process, procedure or method, including industrial and technical processes, can seek a patent for that process. Further, anyone who invents a new machine, manufacture (the term here refers to articles that are made all manufactured items), or composition of matter (relating to chemical compounds, such as the ingredients in a drug, for example), or any new and useful improvement on any of these, may also seek to obtain a patent.
These classes of subject matter taken together include practically everything that is made by man and the processes for making the products. And remember there must be a product a patent cannot be obtained for an idea alone, no matter how promising. Other things that cannot be patented include methods of doing business, mathematical formulae, and other processes involving mental steps.
Patent infringement laws are set in place to encourage consistency in the interpretation of patent law. In 1982, Congress created the Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit to oversee this important process and the issues that arise from conflicts over patents. One of the most well-known patent infringement cases occurred in 1985. The Court of Appeals found that Kodak had infringed on Polariod's instant photography technology patents. This finding then led to a five-year court battle to determine the damages. In 1990, the Federal Court found Kodak liable for $873 million dollars, payable to Polaroid, for its long-time infringement on Polaroid's patents. Additionally, the court prevented Kodak from any further infringement by ordering Kodak to pull all of its instant photography cameras off the market, forcing Kodak completely out of the instant photography business. Microsoft is another name that has also been in the news lately due to its involvement in patent wars. Patent Reform is becoming the hotly debated issue these days, as the intent of the patents was to create incentives for invention, not monopolies in the marketplace or so the argument goes.
Only inventors themselves are eligible to apply for patents. If you believe you have a product that is worth the investment you may want to protect it by obtaining a patent. Once you do hold the patent to your invention it forces others to come to you for licensing before they can use or sell your product. You should know, however, that the process of obtaining a patent can be both expensive and lengthy, depending upon the product you have invented. For additional information, contact a California patent attorney. You can find a patent lawyer here in the Internet Lawyer Directory.
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