Utility Patents Explained: Subject Matter Requirements and How One Is Granted

86 questions on utility patents explained, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Can an inventor's own video destroy their patent rights?
• Can a patent's term be adjusted or extended?
• Can one product be covered by both a utility and a design patent?
• Can you contrast an eligible software claim with an ineligible one?
• Can you patent isolated human DNA?
• Did KSR abolish the requirement of a reason to combine references?
• Do continuation applications extend a patent family's life?
• Does being the inventor make you the owner?
• Does eligibility matter for a mechanical invention?
• How broad are the Section 101 categories?
• How can an invention be novel but still obvious?
• How can prosecution arguments boomerang later?
• How did KSR change the obviousness analysis?
• How do courts measure "undue experimentation"?
• How do design and utility patent infringement remedies differ?
• How do drawings differ between utility and design patents?
• How does an applicant respond to a rejection?
• How does a skimpy provisional create a false sense of security?
• How does the U.S. one-year grace period work?
• How do patents and trade secrets embody opposite philosophies?
• How much do small and micro entity discounts save?
• How old is the product-of-nature exception?
• How should you read the Constitution's Intellectual Property Clause?
• Is a confidential sale safe before filing?
• Is a "final" Office Action really final?
• Is getting a utility patent worth it?
• Is the Amgen enablement principle actually new?
• Should an inventor panic at a first-action rejection?
• What are secondary considerations and why are they the inventor's best friend?
• What are the four substantive hurdles after Section 101?
• What are the Graham factors?
• What are the three judicial exceptions to patent eligibility?
• What counts as a patentable "process"?
• What counts as prior art?
• What did Amgen v. Sanofi hold about broad functional claims?
• What did Brenner v. Manson hold about utility?
• What did the AIA change about who wins between two independent inventors?
• What does 35 U.S.C. Section 101 actually say?
• What does enablement require?
• What does it actually cost to get a utility patent?
• What does the Coca-Cola formula illustrate about the trade-secret choice?
• What does the utility requirement demand?
• What does the word "comprising" mean in a patent claim?
• What exactly is a provisional application good for?
• What happens between filing and the first Office Action?
• What happens if a maintenance fee is missed?
• What happens if you miss the twelve-month provisional deadline?
• What happens when a patent's term ends?
• What is a composition of matter?
• What is a plant patent?
• What is on a patent's cover sheet?
• What is the Alice/Mayo two-step test?
• What is the bargain at the heart of the patent system?
• What is the best mode requirement, and does it still have teeth?
• What is the definiteness standard after Nautilus?
• What is the difference between a machine and an article of manufacture?
• What is the difference between an independent and a dependent claim?
• What is the difference between a utility patent and a design patent?
• What is the duty of candor and what does breaching it cost?
• What is the one-line difference between novelty and obviousness?
• What is the "one-reference rule" for novelty?
• What is the standard order of a patent specification?
• What is the strategic tension between broad and narrow claims?
• What is the written description requirement?
• What remedies does a granted utility patent unlock?
• What rules govern patent drawings?
• What traps accompany patent licensing?
• When does the twenty-year patent term start running?
• When is a provisional application worth filing?
• When should you choose a patent over a trade secret?
• When should you choose a trade secret over a patent?
• Where does the utility requirement actually do work?
• Who interprets patent claims, and under what methodology?
• Why are dependent claims a safety net?
• Why does adding limitations make a claim easier to avoid?
• Why does patent marking matter after the grant?
• Why does the word "improvement" in Section 101 matter so much?
• Why do patent lawyers say "the claims are the patent"?
• Why do patents demand so much technical detail?
• Why do skilled drafters claim an invention in multiple categories?
• Why is a patent a sword rather than a shield?
• Why is a utility patent a feat of technical writing?
• Why is non-obviousness the requirement that does the real work?
• Why is the background section of a patent a minefield?
• Why must a utility patent be "fed"?
• Why should a detailed description cover alternative embodiments?