#40unit 2intellectual property rights
Patent
Protecting inventions and novel processes.
Unit 2Intellectual Property RightsTopic #40Published
Patent
Not started
A patent grants the owner a 20-year exclusive monopoly on the ideas behind an invention. Patents are granted by the USPTO for machines, man-made products, compositions of matter, and processing methods. They protect the ideas themselves (unlike copyright) but cannot cover laws of nature, natural phenomena, or abstract ideas.
- Define a patent and its 20-year duration.
- List the four types of inventions that can be patented.
- Identify what cannot be patented.
- Explain the requirements for patent grant and the danger of patents.