RAI Explainer: Patents

The history of patents can be traced back to the Venetian Patent Statute of 1474, which established the first statutory patent system in Europe. Almost six centuries later, the statutes laid out in this document still form the basics of patent law. In the United States, the role of patents predates the Constitution. Prior to the American Revolutionary War and ratification of the United States Constitution in 1787, American colonies had no general laws governing patent rights. Instead, patents were granted on an ad hoc basis, with each state or colonies following its own practice. The Constitution changed all of this by authorizing Congress to create a national patent system. In 1790, the first Patent Statute was passed in the United States, a little over three centuries behind Europe. Today, there are nearly one-hundred separate jurisdictions regarding patents worldwide.
 
What is a patent?
A patent is an official document granting an inventor exclusive rights to an invention. In the United States, patents are granted by either a national patent office or a regional office that registers patents submitted by inventors from multiple other countries. A patent gives the inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the claimed invention. However, patents are limited by length of term and territory; there is no world-wide patent system.

There are three types of patents: utility, design, and plant. Utility patents are used to protect inventions and last for twenty years from the date of the filing of a regular patent application. Design patents protect ornamental (non-functional) designs for fourteen years. Plant patents are granted for up to twenty years after the filing date to an inventor who has invented or discovered, and reproduced, a distinct and new variety of plant.
 
What are the other types of intellectual property protections?
The World Intellectual Property Organization defines intellectual property as “creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names, and images used in commerce”.

While patents guard inventions, there are other forms of protection for various bodies of work and thought. For example, trademarks are meant to protect words, names, logos, or symbols that identify and distinguish services or products. There is no end to the life of a trademark if the business continuously uses the trademark in connection with goods and services they offer. Additionally, copyrights are used to protect works of authorship, which may last the entire life of the author and then up to seventy years after their death. Finally, trade secrets are formulas, methods, devices, or compilations of information that is confidential and gives a business an advantage. Unlike patents, trademarks, and copyrights, these are regulated by state law of federal statutes. The protection of a trade secret will last for as long as the information remains confidential.

What is the purpose of a patent? 
Patent protection can spur innovation by giving the inventor a temporary monopoly on their use of this idea. This period of monopoly allows the creator to recoup the cost incurred from developing the invention by commercializing the idea. The rents created by this exclusion also creates incentive for innovation, rewarding the effort taken to research, develop, and commercialize a new idea as a novel product or service. The assignment of property rights afforded by patents also enable creators to license their invention to others in exchange for royalty payments, sell the invention to a third party, and sue for damages if a person or business encroaches on the patent.
            
For these reasons, patents are an important asset for businesses and inventors. Patents can be used by innovators to gain entry to a market dominated by legacy companies, and as a means to promote the more unique aspects of a product. Obtaining a patent grants a business the right to license their invention and enables the business to manufacture the product externally. Patents are designed to be of limited duration. Once a patent expires, its protection ends, allowing the invention to enter public domain. Once this happens, other firms can commercially exploit the invention without infringing on the protection a patent provides.
 
What are the organizations in place that deal with patents? 
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the federal agency responsible for issuing U.S. patents and registering trademarks. The USPTO also advises the president of the United States, the secretary of commerce, and U.S. government agencies on intellectual property policy, protection, and enforcement. Its mission is to foster innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth, both domestically and abroad, by providing examination of patent and trademark applications, guiding domestic and international intellectual property policy, and delivering intellectual property information and education worldwide.

Established in 1967, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information, and cooperation. The WIPO is a self-funded agency of the United Nations, currently with one-hundred and ninety-three member states. Its mission is to lead the development of a balanced and effective international intellectual property system that enables innovation and creativity for the benefit of all. The WIPO provides a policy forum to shape balanced international intellectual property rules for a changing world, global services to protect intellectual property across borders and to resolve disputes, technical infrastructure to connect intellectual property systems and share knowledge, cooperation and capacity-building programs to enable all countries to use intellectual property for economic, social and cultural development, and a world reference source for intellectual property information.
 
What are the necessary requirements for obtaining a patent in the United States? 
When an inventor wants to obtain a patent, they must first determine if the invention is patentable. There are five basic requirements of a patent: subject matter eligibility, utility, novelty, non-obviousness, and writing. The writing requirements are composed of the enablement, definiteness, and best mode requirements. This means that the inventor must describe the invention in clear terms that would enable anyone skilled in the subject matter pertaining to the invention to be able to make it and use it once the patent expires. Definiteness requires that the patent claims be written in terms understandable to those skilled in the subject matter, and best mode requires that the inventor disclose the best way to practice the invention. These restrictions are in place to ensure not only that the invention is truly novel, but that the inventor teaches the public how to recreate it once the patent expires.      
 
Gabrielle Athanasia is a Program Coordinator and Research Assistant with the Renewing American Innovation Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. 

The Perspectives on Innovation Blog is produced by the Renewing American Innovation Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s).