What is a Patent?

What is a Patent?

By The Fatty Fish Editorial Team - January 14, 2022

What is a Patent?

A patent is the granting of a property right by a sovereign authority to an inventor.

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a patent can be granted to any person who:

Invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent, subject to the conditions and requirements of the law.

Once a patent has been granted, the inventor gains exclusive rights to the patented invention for a fixed period of time in exchange for a comprehensive disclosure of the invention. Like any other business asset or property, a patent can be bought, sold, rented, or licensed.
The inventor also gains the temporary right to stop others from making, using or selling that patented invention without permission. Depending on the type of patent, that timeframe can range from years to decades. In the United States, for example, design patents are usually valid for 15 years, while utility patents are good for 20 years.

Government agencies typically handle and approve applications for patents. In the United States, that authority belongs to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In Europe, it belongs to the European Patent Office (EPO). In China, that authority is conferred upon the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO).

What are Some of the Most important Types of Patents?

Utility Patents

Patents for invention, also known as utility patents, are applicable to the invention of new and useful processes, machines and devices, articles of manufacture, and new materials or composition of matter. 9 in 10 patents issued by the U.S. government are utility patents, making them the most common patents granted by the USPTO. Utility patents generally last 20 years from the date of filing so long as maintenance fees are paid. Maintenance fees are surcharges applied to utility patent applications filed since December 13, 1980.

Design Patents

Design patents apply to new and original ornamental designs for manufactured products. In other words, Design Patents focus on the design or look of something, like the styling of a bezel on a smartphone, or the styling of the frame on a pair of glasses. In the United States, design patents last for 15 years for applications filed after May 13, 2015, and 14 years for applications filed before May 13, 2015. Unlike utility patents, maintenance fees are not applied to design patents in the united States.

Plant Patents

As the nomenclature suggests, plant patents can be granted to any inventor who discovers, engineers, and produces a new kind of plant that is capable of reproduction. Like utility patents, plant patents are valid for 20 years from the date of filing, and like design patents, no maintenance fees are not applied to plant patents.

Standard-Essential Patents (SEPs)

A standard-essential patent (SEP), also referred to simply as an essential patent, is a patent for an invention that must be used to comply with a technical standard. Common examples of standards are USB, WiFi, HTTP, and MP3. Standards Setting Organizations (SSOs) generally require their members to both disclose and grant licenses to patents that address a standard that the organization is developing. This means that patent holders cannot exclude other members of an SSO, including competitors, from using their SEPs. SSOs typically require licences for SEPs to be based on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, but SEP holders can also opt to make their SEPs available to anyone without a license or fee if they so choose.

Non-Standard-Essential patents (NSEPs)

Any patent that is not a standard-essential patent (SEP) is an non-standard-essential patent (NSEP). Unlike SEPs, NSEPs are not required by SSOs to be licensed or made available by their owners. While some patent holders may elect to sell or license their NSEPs to generate licensing revenue and help their invention scale across an industry ecosystem, others may choose not to license their NSEPs, and apply them instead to their own product and services stack to differentiate themselves from their competition.

Why do Patents Exist?

Patents serve a variety of useful purposes, but two stand out above the rest:

Financial incentives: Patents provide financial incentives for inventors (who can be individuals or companies) to develop innovative products or services. Financial incentives can come in the form of licensing revenue, when a patent holder allows other companies or individuals to use their patent(s) for a fee, or when the patent holder sells the patent outright. Patent holders can also build unique products and services based on their inventions, and monetize them that way.

Protection incentives: Protection from infringement by would-be competitors is another incentive for inventors to patent their inventions. With strong and effective patent regimes in place, inventors and companies can safely invest in the development of new products and services without having to worry about rival companies duplicating then selling those products and services, both without their permission and without having incurred the cost and risk of developing them in the first place.

The Fatty Fish Editorial Team

The Fatty Fish Editorial Team includes a diverse group of industry analysts, researchers, and advisors who spend most of their days diving into the most important topics impacting the future of the technology sector. Our team focuses on the potential impact of tech-related IP policy, legislation, regulation, and litigation, along with critical global and geostrategic trends — and delivers content that makes it easier for journalists, lobbyists, and policy makers to understand these issues.