Patent

A patent grants the owner a 20-year exclusive monopoly on the ideas behind an invention. The congressional intent was to ensure that inventors of new machines, devices, or industrial methods would receive the full rewards of their labor and still make widespread use of the invention possible through licensing. Patents are obtained from the USPTO, created in 1812.

Obtaining a patent is much more difficult and time-consuming than obtaining copyright protection (which is automatic). Patents must be formally applied for, and the granting is determined by Patent Office examiners following rigorous rules. Federal courts decide when patents are valid and when infringement occurs.

Patents are very different from copyrights because patents protect the ideas themselves and not merely the expression of ideas. There are four types of inventions for which patents are granted: machines, man-made products, compositions of matter, and processing methods. The Supreme Court has held that patents extend to 'anything under the sun that is made by man' (Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 1980).

There are three things that cannot be patented: laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas. A mathematical algorithm cannot be patented unless it is realised in a tangible machine or process with a useful result. The applicant must show the invention is new, original, novel, nonobvious, and not evident in prior art. The danger of patents is that they stifle competition by raising barriers to entry.