A patent is the intellectual property right granted by the US Government to an inventor "to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout US or importing the invention into the US" for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted. In most cases, this is twenty years from the date of application. In some situations, the term of the patent may be extended due to delays in the processing of the application. After the patent has expired, the invention becomes public domain. In addition, patent owners must pay a maintenance fee at 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 years after issue or else the patent will expire.
Patent types:
Utility patent - Describes a new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or useful improvement thereof (i.e. what something does)
Design patent - A new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture (i.e. how something looks)
Plant patent - Describes an asexually reproduced distinct and new variety of plant (e.g. ‘NuMex Heritage 6-4’ New Mexican Chile Pepper)
See Anatomy of a US Patent Document for a detailed description of the sections of a US patent. [Created by Michael White, Engineering & Science Library, Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario]
Say you have an idea for an invention - or have gone so far as to create a prototype. Before marketing your invention, you will need to determine if your invention has already been patented. You will want to conduct a thorough patent search. This will usually involve searching a number of different patent sites, so it is useful to keep a log of all your search activity, thus avoiding duplicate efforts.
You can begin your search the following way:
Although Google Patents is easy to use, it is not as current as the USPTO website. If you need to look through a large number of patents it mat be worthwhile to make an appointment to use the PubWEST database at the Patent & Trademark Resource Center. This database is not accessible except through the PTRC.
See General Information Concerning Patents
Also see Patent Process Overview
The Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) system, in force from 1 January 2013, is a bilateral system which has been jointly developed by the EPO and the USPTO. It combines the best classification practices of the two offices.
See about Google Patents for searching tips.
Main Library | 1510 E. University Blvd.
Tucson, AZ 85721
(520) 621-6442
University Information Security and Privacy
© 2023 The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of The University of Arizona.
