Understanding Patents: A Plain English Introduction for Inventors

65 questions on understanding patents, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Are invention-promotion companies legitimate?
• Can a competitor challenge your patent after it issues?
• Can an inventor file a patent application without a lawyer?
• Can you have both a patent and a trade secret on the same invention?
• Does a patent give you the right to make your own invention?
• Does a provisional application shorten the time to get a patent?
• Does "patent pending" give you the right to stop copycats?
• Does the USPTO's issuance of a patent mean it is commercially valuable?
• Does U.S. law require a human patent inventor?
• How can a poorly drafted patent claim be worthless?
• How do design and plant patent terms compare to utility patents?
• How does the all-elements rule work in practice?
• How does the pyramid structure make a patent harder to defeat?
• How long does a utility patent last?
• How long does it take to get a patent?
• How should an inventor decide whether a patent is worth pursuing?
• Is an issued patent bulletproof?
• Is a prior art search required before filing a patent application?
• Is it illegal to mark a product "patent pending" without filing?
• Should you patent an invention or keep it a trade secret?
• What are patent term adjustment and patent term extension?
• What are provisional rights under 35 U.S.C. § 154(d)?
• What are the patentability gates an invention must clear?
• What are the three species of patent?
• What did the America Invents Act change about who gets a patent?
• What does a patent actually cost?
• What does a patent document actually contain?
• What does it mean that a patent is a limited-time grant?
• What government fees does the USPTO charge for a patent?
• What happens to an invention when its patent expires?
• What is a provisional patent application good for?
• What is claim construction and why do cases turn on it?
• What is the difference between an independent and a dependent claim?
• What is the difference between a patent agent and a patent attorney?
• What is the honest answer when an inventor asks how much a patent costs?
• What is the patent bargain?
• What is the poor man's patent and does it work?
• What is the practical lesson from the two great patent myths?
• What is the right altitude of generality for a patent claim?
• What is the risk of a thin patent when raising investment?
• What is the risk of drafting your own patent claims?
• What is the single most important thing to remember about patent documents?
• What is Track One prioritized examination?
• What maintenance fees keep a utility patent alive?
• What makes claim drafting the number-one reason inventors hire professionals?
• What resources does the USPTO offer independent inventors?
• What should a cash-strapped inventor do instead of mailing themselves an envelope?
• What should an inventor do before filing anything?
• When should an inventor definitely hire a patent professional?
• Where does strong claim drafting actually begin?
• Why are software and biotech patents more expensive to obtain?
• Why are the claims the most important part of a patent?
• Why did the America Invents Act finish off the poor man's patent?
• Why did the United States switch to a twenty-years-from-filing term?
• Why does a patent that takes longer to issue have less enforceable life?
• Why does chain of title matter at the start of a patent project?
• Why does first-inventor-to-file make delay dangerous?
• Why is a patent called a right to exclude rather than a right to practice?
• Why is a patent's filing date more important than its issue date?
• Why is a public disclosure dangerous even before filing?
• Why is claim count a strategic choice rather than a formality?
• Why is delay especially costly for an inventor today?
• Why is the Coca-Cola formula the textbook trade secret example?
• Why say "patent pending" at all if it confers no present rights?
• Why should an inventor keep a dated record of the invention?