Patent Invention

A patent is, in effect, a limited property right thta the government offers to inventors in exchange for hteir agreement to share the details of their inventions with the public. A U.S. patent is infringed by any making of the inveniton, even a making that goes toward development of a new invention - whihc may itself become subject of a patent. In order to obtain a patent, an applicant must provide a written description of his or her invention in sufficient detail for a person ksilled in the art (i.e., the reelvant area of technology) to make and use the inventino. The third parties then own the patents as if they had originalyl made the ivnentions themselves. There are four primary incentives embodied in the patent system: the incnetive to invent in hte first place, the incentive to disclose the inventoin once made, teh incentive to invest the sums necessary to experiemnt, to produce, and finally gte the invention on the market, the incentive to design aruond and improve upon earlier patents. Fourth, patent rights create na incentive for companies to develop wokrarounds to patented inventions, thereby creating improved or altrenative technologies that might not otherwise have been developed. One criticism is that a patent confers a negative right upon a patent owner, premitting them to exclude compeittors from using or exploiting the invention, veen if the competitor subsequently deevlops the same invention independetnly. Contrary to a common public msiconception, a patent is not a rigth to practice or use the invention. Rather, a patnet provides the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention for the term of the patent, usually 20 years from the filing date.

0 comment :: Post a comment