Patent Attorney information site!

We want to thank you for visiting us, and hope that we help you navigate your journey with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

A Brief Description of The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. This agencies whole purpose is to grant patents for the protection of inventions, and inventors, as well as to register trademarks. This agency serves as in the interest of inventors and businesses with respect to their inventions, products and identifying trademarks. This office advises our government with vital information and statistics involving global “intellectual property” matters. Their services, strengthen the progress of this nation’s industry and economy via their preservation, classification, and dissemination of patent information.

Overall, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office is charged with all matters that pertain to patents & trademarks, in any regard. Whether you are filing for a new patent or rademark, or researching an existing one, they are the absolute and final word.

What is a patent?

The following is taken from the USPTO’s website, and is as complete a description imaginable:

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:

1) Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof;

2) Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; and

3) Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.

The Constitution of the United States gives Congress the power to enact laws relating to patents, in Article I, section 8, which reads “Congress shall have power . . . to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” Under this power Congress has from time to time enacted various laws relating to patents. The first patent law was enacted in 1790. The patent laws underwent a general revision which
was enacted July 19, 1952, and which came into effect January 1, 1953. It is codified in Title 35, United States Code. Additionally, on November 29, 1999, Congress enacted the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 (AIPA), which further revised the patent laws. See Public Law 106-113, 113 Stat. 1501 (1999).

Why you need an Patent Attorney?

In today’s world, and the new technological aspect of it, now more than ever it is critical that you engage in a partnership with a firm that will help you navigate the world of patents and trademarks. The USPTO can be a daunting task, and can seem overwhelming for a person who has never dealt with this agency before. Our firm will help you in all points along this journey, from research to release of your new patent or trademark (or both) and will make it an easier event to go through.

The first step on receiving your patent or trademark begins with you having the right firm behind you, doing the research and proceeding with filing an application that will be as protected, and complete possible.