Don’t get confused.
Some persons occasionally confuse patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Although there may be some resemblance in the rights of these three kinds of intellectual property they are different and serve different purposes. A patent for an invention is a grant of a properly right by the Government to the inventor (or his or her heirs or assigns), acting through the Patent and Trademark Office. The term of the patent shall be 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, a referenced earlier filed application. The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and of the grant itself, “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States.
Constitutional Grant
The Constitution of the United States in Article I, section 8: “Congress shall have power. to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” The first patent law was enacted in 1790. The law now in effect is codified in Title 35, United States Code.
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Brian Bellamy has trained in engineering and law and is a patent attorney, registered with the U.S. Patent Office. Brian provides patent, trademark and intellectual property legal services to clients in South Georgia, Middle Georgia, North Florida and as far away as Hawaii.