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
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Free and Open Source Software: Findlaw Interview with Philip Albert of Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP
L: What is Free and Open Source Software? Generally, the name describes software that is licensed with fewer restrictions than proprietary licensing models, such as "per copy," "per use" object code only licenses. The term "free software" often ...
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Often Asked Questions About Patenting
The information provided below is not legal advice. It is of a general nature and does not apply to sets of specific facts or circumstances. Is there a time limit for filing a U.S. patent application after coming up with an idea and making a public ...
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Strategic Patent Counseling
What questions do you, as a patent counsel, need to investigate in order to set forth a strategy which will help your client protect its product line in the marketplace? You have been engaged by a new client to formulate and implement a patent ...
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Attorney Diligence in Patent Application Preparation Will Require Special Attention After January 1, 1996
But, proof of a prior actual date of invention frequently requires not only clear evidence of conception and of reduction to practice but also evidence of diligence. If a constructive reduction to practice is relied upon, diligence to the filing of ...
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Federal Circuit Makes Significant Decision on Patentability of Mathematical Algorithms
The Federal Circuit recently issued an en banc decision which will significantly impact the patentability of mathematical algorithms and computer software. In re Alappat, 31 USPQ2d 1545 (Fed. Cir. 1994). The Alappat decision addresses two issues: 1 ...
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Judge Overturns Record $1.5 Million Microsoft Verdict
Editor's Note: This article was originally published in BullsEye, a newsletter distributed by IMS Expert Services. Expert testimony proved to be the linchpin in a federal judge's Aug. 6th decision to set aside the largest-ever damages award in a ...
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Court Erred in Disregarding Patent Expert
Editor's Note: This article was originally published in BullsEye, a newsletter distributed by IMS Expert Services. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled June 18th that a federal court in a patent dispute was wrong to disregard expert testimony ...
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Global Patent Considerations for the 21st Century
There was a time when all U.S. business competitors and markets were domestic, and we only needed to protect our technology in this country. With the U.S. ratification of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the emergence of China and ...
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Considerations for Patenting
Patents may be valuable assets of an organization, but there are numerous considerations that should be made prior to engaging in the patenting process. Prior to taking the first patenting step, every organization should first consider how the ...
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What Can Be Patented
(Excerpted from the United States Patent and Trademark Office's General Information Concerning Patents) The patent law specifies the general field of subject matter that can be patented and the conditions under which a patent may be obtained. In the ...