Patents

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NOTE: This article should not be taken seriously. It is in the Misc (Other) category because of it not being related to zelda at all.

Most people have heard of patents. Over 200,000 United States patents are issued each year. For many companies, their greatest assets are not land or buildings or equipment, but intellectual property such as copyrights, trademarks and patents. However, most people do not really understand what patents are.


Basically, a patent is the right to forbid others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention. Patents have a term. After that term, the patent owner can no longer forbid others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention. Patents can be sold. Patent owners may license others to make, use or sell the invention. Some patent owners choose to make or sell the invention themselves while forbidding competitors from doing so.


In the United States, there are utility patents, design patents and plant patents.


UTILITY PATENTS are by far the most common kind of patent. Utility patents can protect the inventor of a "new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or compositions of matters, or any new useful improvement thereof." That is a broad category. In fact it includes almost everything that is made by people and the processes for making the products. Patent agents and patent attorneys usually limit their own practices to something narrower than that broad range. For example, I would not handle a business method patent or a patent for a new integrated circuit chip. I would not feel that I could properly serve a client with that sort of invention. When someone contacts me about an invention outside of the fields in which I cannot help, I can often recommend other patent professionals with the appropriate technical expertise. The word "useful" in patent terminology is used differently than in common English. There are many inventions that are not "useful" in the common meaning. "Useful" in the patent sense is closer in meaning to the common phrase "useable" (i.e., it does what it is claimed to do). That may be a silly use, a trivial bit of entertainment, or the like. It need not be what you or I consider worthwhile to be useful. Utility patents based on applications filed these days have a term of 20 years from the date of the non-provisional patent application (there are some exceptions to that).


DESIGN PATENTS can be very useful if used appropriately. Occasionally, I recommend that someone consider applying for a design patent. They are usually far less expensive to obtain than a utility patent. However, it is important to realize what is and what is not covered by a design patent. Design patents can protect the inventor of new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. An example is a headboard for a bed that has a special look. The design need not do anything new other than look special. Design patents are not issued on "pure artwork" (i.e., it must be made part of something which is itself functional). An inventor with a gadget that works an important new way would probably not be well served by merely protecting the appearance of the gadget. The inventor would likely want to be able to forbid others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling items that function the same way. Design patents expire 14 year after they are issued. One of their tricks is to "help" someone with an invention that should be protected by a utility patent get a design patent without explaining the difference. The victim is happy at first. The company did help get a patent that covered the "design." It is later that the victim realizes that "design," as used in the patent world, is not the type of protection needed. That patent is nearly worthless because of what is not protected.


PLANT PATENTS can protect the inventor or discover of distinct and new varieties of plants that can be reproduced asexually.

External links

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