A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Generally, the term of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the date an earlier related application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. This is FindLaw's collection of Patent articles, part of the Intellectual Property section of the Corporate Counsel Center. Law articles in this archive are predominantly written by lawyers for a professional audience seeking business solutions to legal issues. Start your free research with FindLaw.
Patent
Patent Articles
-
Publishing: How Your Patent Rights Could Perish
Traditionally, the old adage "publish or perish" has governed a person's success in academia. Nowadays, most colleges have a new mantra when scientific inventions are involved. As universities continue to partner with businesses to commercialize ...
-
Supreme Court Rules on the On-Sale Bar
Watch out when you or your company offers a new or improved product for sale -you may lose the chance to protect the product with a patent without realizing it. Under the U.S. patent statute (35 U.S.C. §102(b)), a valid patent cannot be obtained for ...
-
Trademark Overview
A trademark is any name, logo, shape, color, sound or even smell which is used to send a message to attract potential customers and distinguishes the source of goods from those of others. Any business that uses a name, in advertising or on its web ...
-
Patent Invalidated
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently held in Great Northern v. Henry Molded Products that a patent on a product for supporting rolls of material, such as cellophane or steel, was invalid for failing to disclose the ...
-
IP Patent Litigation Strategies: Markman Hearings, I
Michael Bettinger, leader of the Intellectual Property Litigation Group at Preston Gates & Ellis LLP, discussed the Markman hearing, which in patent litigation determines the meaning and scope of the patent claims in dispute. In the Supreme Court's ...
-
Intergraph's Patent Victory over Intel: FindLaw Interview with George M. Schwab of Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP
Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP, a 150-attorney law firm specializing in intellectual property and complex litigation, secured a major patent victory on behalf of computer software developer Intergraph Corporation over microprocessor giant Intel ...
-
Using Patents In Products Liability Cases
Several years ago I represented a child who received serious facial scars when he was thrown from a Yamaha Trimoto - three-wheeled all-terrain vehicle (ATV) - during a turn. Trimotos roll over unexpectedly because of their high center of gravity and ...
-
Failure to Disclose Relevant Prior Art during the Prosecution of A Patent Application Rendered the Patent Unenforceable
A patent applicant has a duty to prosecute an application before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office with candor, good faith, and honesty. See Paragon Podiatry Lab., Inc. v. KLM Labs., Inc., 984 F.2d 1182, 1192 (Fed. Cir. 1993). Affirmative ...
-
Doctrine of Equivalents Revitalized by Federal Circuit En Banc
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit announced in Hilton Davis Chemical Co. v. Warner-Jenkinson Co., Inc., No. 93-1088, slip. op. (Fed. Cir. August 8, 1995)(en banc) that the doctrine of equivalents is alive and well and is what the Supreme ...
-
Will Willful Infringement Now Wilt Away?
The "willful" infringement of a patent enables the plaintiff to collect treble damages, as well as attorneys' fees. On September 13, 2004, in Knorr-Bremse Systems Fuer Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH v. Dana Corp., the Federal Circuit overturned 18 years of ...