The Basics
Creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce
What is Intellectual Property?
The only U.S. President with a patent
Abraham Lincoln
All aspects of patent law in the United States are governed by the sections of this
What is Title 35 of the United States Code?
The term of a U.S. utility or plant patent
What is 20 years from the filing date?
This should be as short and specific as possible (no more than 500 characters) and should appear as a heading on the first page of the specification
What is the title of the invention?
Any word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of these things that identifies your goods or services
What is a trademark?
This person, later elected President of the U.S.A., was the first administrator of the United States’ patent system and wrote the Patent Act of 1793
Thomas Jefferson
This section begins with “Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter,…”
What is 35 U.S.C. 101?
The term of a U.S. design patent
What is 15 years from the date of grant?
This section must appear on a separate page, should be a single paragraph (150 words or less)
What is the Abstract?
A government-issued property right giving the holder the exclusive legal right to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing the invention for a limited time
What is a Patent?
This U.S. President nominated David Kappos to be Director of the USPTO by this U.S. President
Barak Obama
Non-Provisional Applications are filed under this section
What is 35 U.S.C. 111?
The initial term of a U.S. trademark registration
What is 10 years?
This section describes views by specifying the numbers of the figures.
What is the brief description of the drawings?
Protection of original creative works fixed in a “tangible medium of expression”, giving the owner exclusive right to reproduce, adapt, distribute, publicly perform, and publicly display the work (or to authorize others to do so)
What is a Copyright?
The first U.S. patent was granted to Samuel Hopkins on July 31 for a process of making potash, an ingredient used in fertilizer and was signed by this U.S. President
George Washington
Novelty is the condition for patentability discussed in this section
What is 35 U.S.C. 102?
The term of a trade secret (assuming all 3 required elements exist)
What is indefinite?
This portion of the application defines the scope of the patent protection.
What is the claims?
Any confidential business information, formula, or process that gives a company a competitive advantage and is actively kept secret
What is a Trade Secret?
This U.S. President signed patent number 10 million. This was the first patent signed by a President since 1976
Donald J. Trump
Applications claiming benefit of an earlier foreign application are filed under this section
What is 35 U.S.C. 119?
The term of a copyright created on or after January 1, 1978, by a single author
What is the life of the author plus 70 years after the author’s death
This section should be commensurate with the invention as claimed, and any object recited should be that of the invention as claimed.
What is the Brief summary of the invention?