WHY ARE PATENTS IMPORTANT?
Patents Were Originally Designed as a Reward to Inventors. As a Product Developer, You'll Need to Take Advantage of This Reward With Your New Product.
By Ken Tarlow
When the United States was still in its infancy, lawmakers realized that a first step towards encouraging economic progress was to offer rewards to inventors. For that reason, patent protection was granted by the American Colonies as early as 1641, before any formal legal system was in place. And when the Constitution was framed, nearly a century and a half later, it contained this provision:
"To Congress shall have power...to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors to exclusive right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."
In 1790, three years after the Constitution was signed, President George Washington signed the first federal U.S. Patent Act. Although the U.S. Patent Law has been refined since 1790, it has continued to be the stimulus of our nation's economic growth.
The American patent system encourages inventors to proceed with experimentation and to make their inventions. If the invention is patentable under conditions of the law, then the inventor enjoys, for a specific length of time, the exclusive right to exploit the invention and to realize any profits. The patent system, said Abraham Lincoln, adds "The fuel of interest to the fire of genius."
WHAT IS PATENT PROTECTION?
A U.S. Patent is a written document that gives an inventor the exclusive right for a limited time to make, use, or sell his or her invention in this country. After a patent has expired, anyone may make, use or sell the invention without the permission of the original patent holder. Patent terms can only be extended by special act of Congress. U.S. patents may be granted to individuals, to joint inventors, and to citizens of other countries.
PATENT CATEGORIES
Utility patents are granted to anyone who invents or discovers a new and useful process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter or any new and useful improvement thereof. "Process" means a process or method; new industrial or technical processes may be patented. "Manufacture" refers to articles which are made. "Composition of matter" relates to chemical compositions and may include mixtures of ingredients as well as new chemical compounds. A utility patent has a term of 20 years.
Design patents are granted to any person who has invented or discovered a new form or design for a product. Plant patents are granted for any person who has discovered or asexually reproduced any distinct and new variety of plant, including cultivated sorts, mutants, hybrids and newly-found seedlings, other than a tuber-propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state. A design patent is good for 14 years, while a plant patent has a term of 17 years.
Only the true inventor of the discovery may apply for a patent, but once obtained, the patent can be sold or mortgaged, just like any other personal property. The patent holder may also assign part interest in the patent or may grant licenses to others to make, use or sell the invention.
WHY ARE PATENTS IMPORTANT?
Patents, quite simply, are part of the engine that powers our nation's economy. From the standpoint of the business community, patents are of utmost importance, since they provide the necessary protection for the newly-developed products or processes.
And at times, basic inventions--protected by patents--have created new industries and given rise to new companies. Some examples: xerography and Xerox Corporation and instant photography and Polaroid Corporation. In fact, the history of the U.S. patent system is laced with the names of inventors who contributed to our country's economic progress: Eli Whitney, Samuel Morse, Thomas Edison, Orville and Wilbur Wright. These inventors, and others not as well known, have through their work changed the course of human history.
And central to their work and innovative genius is a patent system that provides protection--while nurturing creative thinking, scientific problem-solving and developing those techniques that will pave the way for our future.
Ken Tarlow is president of Tarlow Design, a full-service product development company that helps independent inventors design, prototype, patent and license consumer product ideas. He has developed more than 300 consumer products worth over one billion dollars in retail sales. Tarlow's office is in San Rafael, CA. He may be reached at (415) 457-6428.
The above article was excerpted from Tarlow's MIND TO MONEY, a cassette tape/workbook package that can help you develop a new product from the idea stage to the marketplace. MIND TO MONEY may be ordered from Dream Merchant at $59.95, plus $4.95 CA sales tax and $5 shipping and handling ($69.90 total). Send orders to Dream Merchant, 2309 Torrance Blvd., Suite 104, Torrance, CA 90501.
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