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136-578: The primary function of a trademark is to identify the source of goods or services and prevent consumers from confusing them with those from other sources. Legal protection for trademarks is typically secured through registration with governmental agencies, such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). Registration provides

272-469: A decree by which new and inventive devices had to be communicated to the Republic in order to obtain legal protection against potential infringers. The period of protection was 10 years. As Venetians emigrated, they sought similar patent protection in their new homes. This led to the diffusion of patent systems to other countries. The English patent system evolved from its early medieval origins into

408-585: A "first-to-file" system, which grants rights to the first entity to register the mark. However, well-known trademarks are an exception, as they may receive protection even without registration. In contrast, a few countries, like the United States, Canada, and Australia, follow a "first-to-use" or hybrid system, where using the mark in commerce can establish certain rights, even without registration. However, registration in these countries still provides stronger legal protection and enforcement. For example, in

544-633: A brand in the marketplace and distinguish it from competitors. A service mark , also covered under the Lanham Act, is a type of trademark used to identify services rather than goods. The term trademark is used to refer to both trademarks and service marks. Similarly, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) defines a trademark as a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. WIPO administers

680-453: A company helping another company to create a patented product or selling the patented product which is created by another company. There is also inducement to infringement, which is when a party induces or assists another party in violating a patent. An example of this would be a company paying another party to create a patented product in order to reduce their competitor's market share. This is important when it comes to gray market goods, which

816-441: A company or product. A trademark, by contrast, offers legal protection for a brand with enforceable rights over the brand's identity and distinguishing elements. Trademark law is designed to fulfill the public policy objective of consumer protection , by preventing the public from being misled as to the origin or quality of a product or service. By identifying the commercial source of products and services, trademarks facilitate

952-465: A competitor uses the same or a confusingly similar trademark for the same or similar products in a jurisdiction where the trademark is protected. This concept is recognized in many jurisdictions, including the United States, the European Union, and other countries, though specific legal standards may vary. To establish trademark infringement in court, the plaintiff generally must show: Trademark

1088-628: A distinctive label or ticket'. In the United States , Congress first attempted to establish a federal trademark regime in 1870. This statute purported to be an exercise of Congress' Copyright Clause powers. However, the Supreme Court struck down the 1870 statute in the Trade-Mark Cases later on in the decade. In 1881, Congress passed a new trademark act, this time according to its Commerce Clause powers. Congress revised

1224-434: A generic product or service name. They should stand out from the surrounding text using capital letters, bold type, italics, color, underlining, quotation marks, or a unique stylized format. For example, say “LEGO® toy blocks” instead of “Lego’s.” A trademark may be designated by the following symbols: While ™ and ℠ apply to unregistered marks (™ for goods and ℠ for services), the ® symbol indicates official registration with

1360-485: A licensed attorney; a patent attorney is a person who has passed both a state bar and the patent bar and is in good standing as an attorney. A patent agent can only act in a representative capacity in patent matters presented to the USPTO, and may not represent a patent holder or applicant in a court of law. To be eligible for taking the patent bar exam, a candidate must possess a degree in "engineering or physical science or

1496-609: A loss of rights in the trademark. It is still possible to make significant changes to the underlying goods or services during a sale without jeopardizing the trademark, but companies will often contract with the sellers to help transition the mark and goods or services to the new owners to ensure continuity of the trademark. Trademarks are often confused with patents and copyrights . Although all three laws protect forms of intangible property, collectively known as intellectual property (IP), they each have different purposes and objectives: Among these types of IP, only trademark law offers

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1632-583: A national basis. Trademark law, on the other hand, is considered to be authorized by the Commerce Clause . The Congress shall have Power ... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. The USPTO maintains a permanent, interdisciplinary historical record of all U.S. patent applications in order to fulfill objectives outlined in

1768-403: A non-obvious inventive step. A patent is requested by filing a written application at the relevant patent office. The person or company filing the application is referred to as "the applicant". The applicant may be the inventor or its assignee. The application contains a description of how to make and use the invention that must provide sufficient detail for a person skilled in the art (i.e.,

1904-476: A patent application and prosecute it on his or her own behalf ( pro se ). If it appears to a patent examiner that an inventor filing a pro se application is not familiar with the proper procedures of the Patent Office, the examiner may suggest that the filing party obtain representation by a registered patent attorney or patent agent. The patent examiner cannot recommend a specific attorney or agent, but

2040-722: A patent case. Under the America Invents Act , the BPAI was converted to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board or "PTAB". Similarly, decisions of trademark examiners may be appealed to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board , with subsequent appeals directed to the Federal Circuit, or a civil action may also be brought. In recent years, the USPTO has seen increasing delays between when a patent application

2176-417: A patent covers or the "scope of protection". After filing, an application is often referred to as " patent pending ". While this term does not confer legal protection, and a patent cannot be enforced until granted, it serves to provide warning to potential infringers that if the patent is issued, they may be liable for damages. Once filed, a patent application is "prosecuted" . A patent examiner reviews

2312-408: A patent. In the United States, however, only the inventor(s) may apply for a patent, although it may be assigned to a corporate entity subsequently and inventors may be required to assign inventions to their employers under an employment contract. In most European countries, ownership of an invention may pass from the inventor to their employer by rule of law if the invention was made in the course of

2448-499: A permanent end to fee diversion. The discussion of which party can appropriate the fees is more than a financial question. Patent fees represent a policy lever that influences both the number of applications submitted to the office as well as their quality. The USPTO examines applications for trademark registration, which can be filed under five different filing bases: use in commerce, intent to use, foreign application, foreign registration, or international registration. If approved,

2584-511: A prohibited act that is protected against by the patent. There is also the Doctrine of Equivalents. This doctrine protects from someone creating a product that is basically, by all rights, the same product that is protected with just a few modifications. In some countries, like the United States, there is liability for another two forms of infringement. One is contributory infringement, which is participating in another's infringement. This could be

2720-400: A right to make or use or sell an invention. Rather, a patent provides, from a legal standpoint, the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention for the term of the patent , which is usually 20 years from the filing date subject to the payment of maintenance fees . From an economic and practical standpoint however, a patent

2856-406: A slowdown in new application filings since the onset of the late-2000s economic crisis , and projections of substantial declines in maintenance fees in coming years, the agency imposed a hiring freeze in early March 2009. In 2006, USPTO instituted a new training program for patent examiners called the "Patent Training Academy". It is an eight-month program designed to teach new patent examiners

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2992-570: A specific property right. Under the World Trade Organization 's (WTO) TRIPS Agreement , patents should be available in WTO member states for any invention, in all fields of technology , provided they are new , involve an inventive step , and are capable of industrial application . Nevertheless, there are variations on what is patentable subject matter from country to country, also among WTO member states. TRIPS also provides that

3128-513: A third party, without authorization from the patentee, makes, uses, or sells a patented invention. Patents, however, are enforced on a national basis. The making of an item in China, for example, that would infringe a US patent, would not constitute infringement under US patent law unless the item were imported into the US. Infringement includes literal infringement of a patent, meaning they are performing

3264-555: A unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states along with giving owners a 30-month priority for applications as opposed to the standard 12 the Paris Convention granted. A patent application filed under the PCT is called an international application, or PCT application. The steps for PCT applications are as follows: 1. Filing the PCT patent application 2. Examination during

3400-698: A whole. Trademark protection does not apply to utilitarian features of a product such as the plastic interlocking studs on Lego bricks. The earliest examples of use of markings date back to around 15,000 years ago in Prehistory . Similar to branding practices, the Lascaux cave paintings in France, for instance, depict bulls with marks, which experts believe may have served as personal marks to indicate livestock ownership. Around 6,000 years ago, Egyptian masonry featured quarry marks and stonecutters' signs to identify

3536-477: A yearly basis. Some countries or regional patent offices (e.g. the European Patent Office ) also require annual renewal fees to be paid for a patent application before it is granted. In the US, patent maintenance fees are due on 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 anniversaries of the patent issuance. Only ca. 50% of issued US patents are maintained full term. Large corporations tend to pay maintenance fees through

3672-487: Is "escalator," which was once a trademark. In contrast, patents have a fixed term, typically lasting 20 years from the filing date, after which the invention enters the public domain. Copyrights generally last for the life of the author plus an additional 50 to 70 years (depending on the jurisdiction), after which the protected work enters the public domain. Although intellectual property laws such as these are theoretically distinct, more than one type may afford protection to

3808-614: Is also a Receiving Office, an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examination Authority for international patent applications filed in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty . The legal basis for the United States patent system is the Copyright Clause in Section 8 of Article I of the U.S. Constitution , which gives Congress the power to grant patents and copyrights on

3944-416: Is also skill required when searching for prior art that is used to support the application and to prevent applying for a patent for something that may be unpatentable. A patent examiner will make special efforts to help pro se inventors understand the process but the failure to adequately understand or respond to an Office action from the USPTO can endanger the inventor's rights, and may lead to abandonment of

4080-597: Is better and perhaps more precisely regarded as conferring upon its proprietor "a right to try to exclude by asserting the patent in court", for many granted patents turn out to be invalid once their proprietors attempt to assert them in court. A patent is a limited property right the government gives inventors in exchange for their agreement to share details of their inventions with the public. Like any other property right, it may be sold, licensed, mortgaged , assigned or transferred, given away, or simply abandoned. A patent, being an exclusionary right, does not necessarily give

4216-449: Is even more pronounced when the number of patent applications is normalized by the country's population each year, or when the country of origin rather than country of filing is used. For the US, the population-normalized peak in patenting occurred in 1915, and the number of subsequent patents induced per patent has been mostly declining since 1926. A study of 4,512 patents obtained by Stanford University between 1970 and 2020 showed that

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4352-726: Is evidence that some form of patent rights was recognized in Ancient Greece in the city of Sybaris , the first statutory patent system is generally regarded to be the Venetian Patent Statute of 1474. However, recent historical research has suggested that the 1474 Statute was inspired by laws in the Kingdom of Jerusalem that granted monopolies to developers of novel silk-making techniques. Patents were systematically granted in Venice as of 1474, where they issued

4488-492: Is filed and when it issues. To address its workload challenges, the USPTO has undertaken an aggressive program of hiring and recruitment. The USPTO hired 1,193 new patent examiners in Fiscal Year 2006 (year ending September 30, 2006), 1,215 new examiners in fiscal 2007, and 1,211 in fiscal year 2008. The USPTO expected to continue hiring patent examiners at a rate of approximately 1,200 per year through 2012; however, due to

4624-718: Is headed by the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, currently held by Kathi Vidal as of April 19, 2022. Andrei Iancu was the former director of the USPTO until he left office on January 20, 2021. The USPTO cooperates with the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) as one of the Trilateral Patent Offices . The USPTO

4760-431: Is inherently distinctive (able to identify and distinguish a single source of goods or services), often falling into categories such as suggestive, fanciful, or arbitrary, and is therefore registerable. In contrast, weak trademarks tend to be either descriptive or generic and may not be registerable. The registration process typically begins with a trademark clearance search to identify potential conflicts that could prevent

4896-414: Is often referred to as a form of intellectual property right, an expression which is also used to refer to trademarks and copyrights , and which has proponents and detractors (see also Intellectual property § The term "intellectual property" ). Some other types of intellectual property rights are also called patents in some jurisdictions: industrial design rights are called design patents in

5032-415: Is particularly true in the fast-growing area of business method patents . As of 2005, patent examiners in the business method area were still examining patent applications filed in 2001. The delay was attributed by spokesmen for the Patent Office to a combination of a sudden increase in business method patent filings after the 1998 State Street Bank decision , the unfamiliarity of patent examiners with

5168-623: Is patentable. Patentable material must be synthetic, meaning that anything natural cannot be patented. For example, minerals, materials, genes, facts, organisms, and biological processes cannot be patented, but if someone were to apply an inventive, non-obvious, step to them to synthesize something new, the result could be patentable. That includes genetically engineered strains of bacteria, as was decided in Diamond v. Chakrabarty. Patentability also depends on public policy and ethical standards. Additionally, patentable materials must be novel, useful, and

5304-436: Is sent by the patent office, or the patent application is granted, which after the payment of additional fees, leads to an issued, enforceable patent. In some jurisdictions, there are opportunities for third parties to bring an opposition proceeding between grant and issuance, or post-issuance. Once granted the patent is subject in most countries to renewal fees to keep the patent in force. These fees are generally payable on

5440-466: Is subject to various defenses, such as abandonment, limitations on geographic scope , and fair use. In the United States, the fair use defense protects many of the interests in free expression related to those protected by the First Amendment . Fair use may be asserted on two grounds, either that the alleged infringer is using the mark to describe accurately an aspect of its products, or that

5576-547: Is the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property , initially signed in 1883. The Paris Convention sets out a range of basic rules relating to patents, and although the convention does not have direct legal effect in all national jurisdictions, the principles of the convention are incorporated into all notable current patent systems. The Paris Convention set a minimum patent protection of 20 years, but

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5712-463: Is therefore only useful for protecting an invention in the country in which that patent is granted. In other words, patent law is territorial in nature. When a patent application is published, the invention disclosed in the application becomes prior art and enters the public domain (if not protected by other patents) in countries where a patent applicant does not seek protection, the application thus generally becoming prior art against anyone (including

5848-1141: Is two blocks due south of the King Street station) and Eisenhower Avenue station where the actual Alexandria Campus is located between Duke Street (on the North) to Eisenhower Avenue (on the South), and between John Carlyle Street (on the East) to Elizabeth Lane (on the West) in Alexandria, Virginia. An additional building in Arlington, Virginia , was opened in 2009. The USPTO was expected by 2014 to open its first ever satellite offices in Detroit , Dallas , Denver , and Silicon Valley to reduce backlog and reflect regional industrial strengths. The first satellite office opened in Detroit on July 13, 2012. In 2013, due to

5984-434: Is when a patent owner sells a product in country A, wherein they have the product patented, then another party buys and sells it, without the owner's permission, in country B, wherein the owner also has a patent for the product. With either national or regional exhaustion being the law the in country B, the owner may still be able to enforce their patent rights; however, if country B has a policy of international exhaustion, then

6120-740: The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences , an administrative law body of the USPTO. Decisions of the BPAI could further be appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit , or a civil suit could be brought against the Commissioner of Patents in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia . The United States Supreme Court may ultimately decide on

6256-503: The Crystal City area of neighboring Arlington , Virginia . The USPTO is "unique among federal agencies because it operates solely on fees collected by its users, and not on taxpayer dollars". Its "operating structure is like a business in that it receives requests for services—applications for patents and trademark registrations—and charges fees projected to cover the cost of performing the services [it] provide[s]". The Office

6392-719: The Madrid Protocol , which allows trademark owners worldwide to file one application to register their trademark in multiple countries. Almost anything that identifies the source of goods or services can serve as a trademark. In addition to words, slogans, designs, or combinations of these, trademarks can also include non-traditional marks like sounds, scents, or colors. Under the broad heading of trademarks, there are several specific types commonly encountered, such as trade dress, collective marks, and certification marks: To maintain distinctiveness , trademarks should function as adjectives, not as nouns or verbs, and be paired with

6528-589: The Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity and its system of Access and Benefit-Sharing . Representatives of Indigenous peoples view the GRATK Treaty as a "first step towards guaranteeing just and transparent access to these resources." Before filing for an application, which must be paid for whether a patent is granted or not, a person will want to ensure that their material

6664-757: The TRIPS Agreement sets minimum standards for trademark protection and enforcement that all member countries must follow. The term trademark can also be spelled trade mark in regions such as the EU, UK, and Australia, and as trade-mark in Canada. Despite the different spellings, all three terms denote the same concept. In the United States, the Lanham Act defines a trademark as any word, phrase, symbol, design, or combination of these things used to identify goods or services. Trademarks help consumers recognize

6800-475: The U.S. Congress was passed on April 10, 1790, titled "An Act to promote the progress of useful Arts". The first patent under the Act was granted on July 31, 1790, to Samuel Hopkins of Vermont for a method of producing potash (potassium carbonate). A revised patent law was passed in 1793, and in 1836 a major revision was passed. The 1836 law instituted a significantly more rigorous application process, including

6936-624: The United States Constitution . The PTO's mission is to promote "industrial and technological progress in the United States and strengthen the national economy" by: The USPTO is headquartered at the Alexandria Campus, consisting of 11 buildings in a city-like development surrounded by ground floor retail and high rise residential buildings between the Metro stations of King Street station (the main search building

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7072-465: The WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (GRATK Treaty) mandating patent disclosure requirements for patents based on genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge from being granted. The Treaty contemplates revocation for patents incorrectly filed. The treaty, and in particular its planned extension, is seen as complementing

7208-637: The World Trade Organization (WTO) being particularly active in this area. The TRIPS Agreement has been largely successful in providing a forum for nations to agree on an aligned set of patent laws. Conformity with the TRIPS agreement is a requirement of admission to the WTO and so compliance is seen by many nations as important. This has also led to many developing nations, which may historically have developed different laws to aid their development, enforcing patents laws in line with global practice. Internationally, there are international treaty procedures, such as

7344-892: The budget sequestration , the satellite office for Silicon Valley, which is home to one of the nation's top patent-producing cities, was put on hold. However, renovation and infrastructure updates continued after the sequestration, and the Silicon Valley location opened in the San Jose City Hall in 2015. As of September 30, 2009 , the end of the U.S. government's fiscal year, the PTO had 9,716 employees, nearly all of whom are based at its five-building headquarters complex in Alexandria. Of those, 6,242 were patent examiners (almost all of whom were assigned to examine utility patents ; only 99 were assigned to examine design patents ) and 388 were trademark examining attorneys ;

7480-456: The term of protection available should be a minimum of twenty years. Some countries have other patent-like forms of intellectual property , such as utility models , which have a shorter monopoly period. The word patent originates from the Latin patere , which means "to lay open" (i.e., to make available for public inspection). It is a shortened version of the term letters patent , which

7616-590: The "basic mark" necessary for Madrid filings. The trademark registration process with the USPTO generally follows these steps: Trademark owners seeking protection in multiple jurisdictions have two options: the Paris route, under the Paris Convention , or the Madrid System , which is administered by WIPO . The Paris route, covering 180 countries and also known as the "direct route," requires filing separate applications with each country’s IP office. In contrast,

7752-479: The "basic mark." In the international application, the trademark owner can designate one or more Madrid System Member countries for protection. Each designated country’s trademark office will review the Madrid application under its local laws to grant or refuse protection. In the United States, for example, a trademark must first be registered or pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to serve as

7888-575: The 18th century through a slow process of judicial interpretation of the law. During the reign of Queen Anne , patent applications were required to supply a complete specification of the principles of operation of the invention for public access. Legal battles around the 1796 patent taken out by James Watt for his steam engine , established the principles that patents could be issued for improvements of an already existing machine and that ideas or principles without specific practical application could also legally be patented. The English legal system became

8024-520: The 2009 National Trademark Expo, the Trademark Office designed and launched a kid-friendly trademark mascot known as T. Markey, who appears as an anthropomorphized registered trademark symbol. T. Markey is featured prominently on the Kids section of the USPTO website, alongside fellow IP mascots Ms. Pat Pending (with her robot cat GeaRS) and Mark Trademan. In 2020, trademark applications marked

8160-593: The Commissioner for Patents oversaw three main bodies, headed by the former Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations, Peggy Focarino, the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy, which was held by Andrew Hirshfeld up until 2015, and finally the Commissioner for Patent Resources and Planning, which was vacant at that time. The Patent Operations of the office is divided into nine different technology centers that deal with various arts. Prior to 2012, decisions of patent examiners could be appealed to

8296-427: The European Union requires "genuine use" of the mark within a continuous five-year period following registration to maintain the trademark, with non-use potentially resulting in revocation. The trademark owner must enforce their rights to preserve the trademark's distinctiveness , prevent trademark infringement, and avoid dilution. Enforcement after registration generally involves: Trademark infringement occurs when

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8432-463: The Madrid System streamlines the process by allowing a single Madrid application, built on an existing or applied-for national or regional registration (the "basic mark"), to extend protection to up to 131 countries. Unlike patents and copyrights , which have fixed expiration dates, trademark registrations typically have an initial term of 10 years and can be renewed indefinitely, as long as

8568-409: The Patent Office does post a list of those who are registered. While the inventor of a relatively simple-to-describe invention may well be able to produce an adequate specification and detailed drawings, there remains language complexity in what is claimed , either in the particular claim language of a utility application, or in the manner in which drawings are presented in a design application. There

8704-572: The Roman Empire. Other notable trademarks that have been used for a long time include Stella Artois , which claims use of its mark since 1366, and Löwenbräu , which claims use of its lion mark since 1383. The first trademark legislation was passed by the Parliament of England under the reign of King Henry III in 1266, which required all bakers to use a distinctive mark for the bread they sold. The first modern trademark laws emerged in

8840-526: The Trademark Act in 1905. The Lanham Act of 1946 updated the law and has served, with several amendments, as the primary federal law on trademarks. The Trade Marks Act 1938 in the United Kingdom set up the first registration system based on the "intent-to-use" principle. The Act also established an application publishing procedure and expanded the rights of the trademark holder to include

8976-490: The Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) in 2023. A comprehensive clearance search involves checking the USPTO database for federally registered and applied-for trademarks, state trademark databases, and the internet to see if someone else has already registered that trademark or a similar one. The search should also include looking at both words and designs. To search for similar designs in

9112-494: The U.S. Trademark Office originated in China. Since 2008, the Trademark Office has hosted a National Trademark Expo every two years, billing it as "a free, family-friendly event designed to educate the public about trademarks and their importance in the global marketplace." The Expo features celebrity speakers such as Anson Williams (of the television show Happy Days ) and basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and has numerous trademark-holding companies as exhibitors. Before

9248-485: The UK Patent Office for the first time. Registration was considered to comprise prima facie evidence of ownership of a trademark and registration of marks began on 1 January 1876. The 1875 Act defined a registrable trade mark as a device or mark, or name of an individual or firm printed in some particular and distinctive manner; or a written signature or copy of a written signature of an individual or firm; or

9384-708: The UK, substantive patent law is contained in the Patents Act 1977 as amended. In the United States, the Constitution empowers Congress to make laws to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts ...". The laws Congress passed are codified in Title 35 of the United States Code and created the United States Patent and Trademark Office . There is a trend towards global harmonization of patent laws, with

9520-545: The US, plant breeders' rights are sometimes called plant patents , and utility models and Gebrauchsmuster are sometimes called petty patents or innovation patents . The additional qualification utility patent is sometimes used (primarily in the US) to distinguish the primary meaning from these other types of patents. Particular types of patents for inventions include biological patents , business method patents , chemical patents and software patents . Although there

9656-420: The USPTO database, design search codes must be used. WIPO ’s Global Brand Database provides international access to trademarks and emblems. Trademark owners can either maintain protection at the national level or expand internationally through the Madrid System by building on their national registration. To pursue international protection, a national registration or pending application is required to act as

9792-418: The USPTO director. She was sworn in on April 13, 2022. On December 16, 2022, Kathi Vidal announced that Vaishali Udupa, an intellectual property attorney, engineer, and currently a top executive from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), will join the 13,000-person Department of Commerce agency as the new Commissioner for Patents effective January 17, 2023. For many years, Congress has "diverted" about 10% of

9928-580: The United States, trademark rights are established either (1) through first use of the mark in commerce, creating common law rights limited to the geographic areas of use, or (2) through federal registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), with use in commerce required to maintain the registration. Federal registration with the USPTO provides additional benefits, such as: Trademark law grants legal protection to "distinctive" trademarks, which are marks that allow consumers to easily associate them with specific products or services. A strong trademark

10064-515: The Year can identify herself as such on her website. United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office ( USPTO ) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexandria, Virginia , after a 2005 move from

10200-458: The alleged infringer is using the mark to identify the mark owner. One of the most visible proofs that trademarks provide a limited right in the U.S. comes from the comparative advertising that is seen throughout U.S. media. An example of the first type is that although Maytag owns the trademark "Whisper Quiet" for its dishwashers, makers of other products may describe their goods as being "whisper quiet" so long as these products do not fall under

10336-445: The applicant) who might seek patent protection for the invention in those countries. Commonly, a nation or a group of nations forms a patent office with responsibility for operating that nation's patent system, within the relevant patent laws. The patent office generally has responsibility for the grant of patents, with infringement being the remit of national courts. The authority for patent statutes in different countries varies. In

10472-464: The application and also includes an interview with the examiner. The first accelerated patent was granted on March 15, 2007, with a six-month issuance time. As of the end of 2008, there were 1,208,076 patent applications pending at the Patent Office. At the end of 1997, the number of applications pending was 275,295. Therefore, over those eleven years there was a 439% increase in the number of pending applications. December 2012 data showed that there

10608-501: The application. The USPTO accepts patent applications filed in electronic form. Inventors or their patent agents/attorneys can file applications as Adobe PDF documents. Filing fees can be paid by credit card or by a USPTO "deposit account". The USPTO web site provides free electronic copies of issued patents and patent applications as multiple-page TIFF (graphic) documents. The site also provides Boolean search and analysis tools. The USPTO's free distribution service only distributes

10744-434: The barring of trademark use even in cases where confusion remained unlikely. This Act served as a model for similar legislation elsewhere. The oldest registered trademark has various claimants, enumerated below: Trademark protection can be acquired through registration and/or, in certain countries, through use. Globally, the most common method for establishing trademark rights is registration. Most countries operate under

10880-530: The benefits of using each other's patented inventions. Freedom Licenses like the Apache 2.0 License are a hybrid of copyright/trademark/patent license/contract due to the bundling nature of the three intellectual properties in one central license. This can make it difficult to enforce because patent licenses cannot be granted this way under copyright and would have to be considered a contract. In most countries, both natural persons and corporate entities may apply for

11016-438: The bulk of the employees at USPTO. They hold degrees in various scientific disciplines, but do not necessarily hold law degrees. Unlike patent examiners, trademark examiners must be licensed attorneys. All examiners work under a strict, "count"-based production system. For every application, "counts" are earned by composing, filing, and mailing a first Office action on the merits, and upon disposal of an application. In 2012,

11152-506: The business and financial arts (e.g., banking, insurance , stock trading etc.), and the issuance of a number of controversial patents ( e.g. , U.S. patent 5,960,411 " Amazon one click patent ") in the business method area. Effective August 2006, the USPTO introduced an accelerated patent examination procedure in an effort to allow inventors a speedy evaluation of an application with a final disposition within twelve months. The procedure requires additional information to be submitted with

11288-400: The course of the 20th and 21st centuries, however, disparity is still prevalent. In the UK, for example, only 8% of inventors were female as of 2015. This can partly be attributed to historical barriers for women to obtain patents, as well as to the fact that women are underrepresented in traditionally "patent-intensive" sectors, particularly STEM sectors. Marcowitz-Bitton et al. argue that

11424-453: The equivalent of such a degree". Any person who practices trademark law before the USPTO must be an active member in good standing of the highest court of any state. The United States allows any citizen from any country to sit for the patent bar (if he/she has the requisite technical background). Only Canada has a reciprocity agreement with the United States that confers upon a patent agent similar rights. An unrepresented inventor may file

11560-654: The establishment of an examination system. Between 1790 and 1836 about ten thousand patents were granted. By the American Civil War about 80,000 patents had been granted. In the US, married women were historically precluded from obtaining patents. While section 1 of the Patent Act of 1790 did refer to "she", married women were unable to own property in their own name and were also prohibited from rights to their own income, including income from anything they invented. This historical gender gap has lessened over

11696-401: The fees that the USPTO collected into the general treasury of the United States. In effect, this took money collected from the patent system to use for the general budget. This fee diversion has been generally opposed by patent practitioners (e.g., patent attorneys and patent agents ), inventors, the USPTO, as well as former federal judge Paul R. Michel . These stakeholders would rather use

11832-647: The first modern patent system that recognised intellectual property in order to stimulate invention; this was the crucial legal foundation upon which the Industrial Revolution could emerge and flourish. By the 16th century, the English Crown would habitually abuse the granting of letters patent for monopolies . After public outcry, King James I of England (VI of Scotland ) was forced to revoke all existing monopolies and declare that they were only to be used for "projects of new invention". This

11968-630: The foundation for patent law in countries with a common law heritage, including the United States, New Zealand and Australia . In the Thirteen Colonies , inventors could obtain patents through petition to a given colony's legislature. In 1641, Samuel Winslow was granted the first patent in North America by the Massachusetts General Court for a new process for making salt. The modern French patent system

12104-404: The full term, while small companies are more likely to abandon their patents earlier, even though the due fees are ca. 5 times lower for small businesses (microentities). The costs of preparing and filing a patent application, prosecuting it until grant and maintaining the patent vary from one jurisdiction to another, and may also be dependent upon the type and complexity of the invention, and on

12240-403: The fundamentals of patent law, practice and examination procedure in a college-style environment. Because of the impending USPTO budget crisis previously alluded to, it had been rumored that the academy would be closed by the end of 2009. Focarino, then Acting Commissioner for Patents, denied in a May 2009 interview that the academy was being shut down, but stated that it would be cut back because

12376-583: The funds to improve the patent office and patent system, such as by implementing the USPTO's 21st Century Strategic Plan. The last six annual budgets of the George W. Bush administration did not propose to divert any USPTO fees, and the first budget of the Barack Obama administration continued this practice, as well as the second budget of the Trump administration; however, stakeholders continue to press for

12512-510: The gender gap in patents is also a result of internal bias within the patent system. The number of patent applications filed each year has been growing for most countries although not smoothly, and jumps in activity are often observed due to changes in local laws. The high number of patent families for Spain in the 1800s is related to the superior preservation and cataloguing of the data by Spanish Patent and Trademark Office compared to other countries (see 1836 U.S. Patent Office fire ). The US

12648-520: The hiring goal for new examiners in fiscal 2009 was reduced to 600. Ultimately, 588 new patent examiners were hired in fiscal year 2009. In 2016, the USPTO partnered with the Girl Scouts of the USA to create an " Intellectual Property Patch" merit badge , which is awarded to Girl Scouts at four different levels. In October 2021, President Joe Biden nominated attorney Kathi Vidal to serve as

12784-409: The identification of products and services which meet the expectations of consumers as to the quality and other characteristics. Trademarks may also serve as an incentive for manufacturers, providers, or suppliers to consistently provide quality products or services to maintain their business reputation. Furthermore, if a trademark owner does not maintain quality control and adequate supervision about

12920-502: The international phase 3. Examination during the national phase. Alongside these international agreements for patents there was the Patent Law Treaty (PLT). This treaty standardized the filing date requirements, standardized the application and forms, allows for electronic communication and filing, and avoids unintentional loss of rights, and simplifies patent office procedures. Sometimes, nations grant others, other than

13056-415: The invention be exploited in the jurisdiction it covers. Consequences of not working an invention vary from one country to another, ranging from revocation of the patent rights to the awarding of a compulsory license awarded by the courts to a party wishing to exploit a patented invention. The patentee has the opportunity to challenge the revocation or license, but is usually required to provide evidence that

13192-571: The inventor's normal or specifically assigned employment duties, where an invention might reasonably be expected to result from carrying out those duties, or if the inventor had a special obligation to further the interests of the employer's company. Applications by artificial intelligence systems, such as DABUS , have been rejected in the US, the UK, and at the European Patent Office on the grounds they are not natural persons. The inventors, their successors or their assignees become

13328-574: The late 19th century. In France, the first comprehensive trademark system in the world was passed into law in 1857 with the "Manufacture and Goods Mark Act". In Britain, the Merchandise Marks Act 1862 made it a criminal offense to imitate another's trade mark 'with intent to defraud or to enable another to defraud'. The passing of the Trade Marks Registration Act 1875 allowed formal registration of trademarks at

13464-437: The licensee the right to make, use, sell, or import the claimed invention, usually in return for a royalty or other compensation. It is common for companies engaged in complex technical fields to enter into multiple license agreements associated with the production of a single product. Moreover, it is equally common for competitors in such fields to license patents to each other under cross-licensing agreements in order to share

13600-532: The manufacture and provision of products or services supplied by a licensee, such "naked licensing" will eventually adversely affect the owner's rights in the trademark. For US law see, ex. Eva's Bridal Ltd. v. Halanick Enterprises, Inc. 639 F.3d 788 (7th Cor. 2011). This proposition has, however, been watered down by the judgment of the House of Lords in the case of Scandecor Development AB v. Scandecor Marketing AB et al. [2001] UKHL 21; wherein it has been held that

13736-411: The mark remains in continuous use in commerce. If the trademark owner stops using the mark for too long (typically three to five years, depending on the jurisdiction), the trademark rights may be lost. For example, in the United States, trademark rights are based on use in commerce. If a mark is not used for three consecutive years, it is presumed abandoned and becomes vulnerable to challenges. Similarly,

13872-476: The mere fact that a bare license (the equivalent of the United States concept of a naked license) has been granted did not automatically mean that a trademark was liable to mislead. By the same token, trademark holders must be cautious in the sale of their mark for similar reasons as apply to licensing. When assigning an interest in a trademark, if the associated product or service is not transferred with it, then this may be an "assignment-in-gross" and could lead to

14008-495: The most significant aspect of the convention is the provision of the right to claim priority : filing an application in any one member state of the Paris Convention preserves the right for one year to file in any other member state, and receive the benefit of the original filing date. Another key treaty is the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and covering more than 150 countries. The Patent Cooperation Treaty provides

14144-423: The number of employees who could be punished. Patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention. In most countries, patent rights fall under private law and the patent holder must sue someone infringing

14280-422: The owner certain exclusive rights and provides legal remedies against unauthorized use by others. Trademark laws vary by jurisdiction but generally allow owners to enforce their rights against infringement, dilution, or unfair competition. International agreements, such as the Paris Convention and the Madrid Protocol , simplify the registration and protection of trademarks across multiple countries. Additionally,

14416-438: The patent in order to enforce their rights. The procedure for granting patents, requirements placed on the patentee, and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries according to national laws and international agreements. Typically, however, a patent application must include one or more claims that define the scope of protection that is being sought. A patent may include many claims, each of which defines

14552-518: The patent and trademark applications, and participating in administrative appeals and other proceedings before the PTO examiners, examining attorneys and boards. The USPTO sets its own standards for who may practice. Any person who practices patent law before the USPTO must become a registered patent attorney or agent. A patent agent is a person who has passed the USPTO registration examination (the "patent bar") but has not passed any state bar exam to become

14688-399: The patent application to determine if it meets the patentability requirements of that country. If the application does not comply, objections are communicated to the applicant or their patent agent or attorney through an Office action , to which the applicant may respond. The number of Office actions and responses that may occur vary from country to country, but eventually a final rejection

14824-551: The patent documents as a set of TIFF files. Numerous free and commercial services provide patent documents in other formats, such as Adobe PDF and CPC . The USPTO has been criticized for granting patents for impossible or absurd, already known, or arguably obvious inventions. Economists have documented that, although the USPTO makes mistakes when granting patents, these mistakes might be less prominent than some might believe. The USPTO has been criticized for taking an inordinate amount of time in examining patent applications. This

14960-400: The patent owner seeks monetary compensation ( damages ) for past infringement, and seeks an injunction that prohibits the defendant from engaging in future acts of infringement, or seeks either damages or injunction. To prove infringement, the patent owner must establish that the accused infringer practises all the requirements of at least one of the claims of the patent. (In many jurisdictions

15096-488: The patent owner the right to exploit the invention subject to the patent. For example, many inventions are improvements of prior inventions that may still be covered by someone else's patent. If an inventor obtains a patent on improvements to an existing invention which is still under patent, they can only legally use the improved invention if the patent holder of the original invention gives permission, which they may refuse. Some countries have "working provisions" that require

15232-427: The patent owner will have no legal grounds for enforcing the patent in country B as it was already sold in a different country. Patents can generally only be enforced through civil lawsuits (for example, for a US patent, by an action for patent infringement in a United States federal district court), although some countries (such as France and Austria ) have criminal penalties for wanton infringement. Typically,

15368-544: The patent owner, permissions to create a patented product based on different situations that align with public policy or public interest. These may include compulsory licenses, scientific research, and in transit in country. After two decades of drafting, the WIPO 's Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore moved to a Diplomatic Conference in May 2024 and adopted

15504-562: The patent should never have been granted. There are several grounds for challenges: the claimed subject matter is not patentable subject matter at all; the claimed subject matter was actually not new, or was obvious to the person skilled in the art , at the time the application was filed; or that some kind of fraud was committed during prosecution with regard to listing of inventors, representations about when discoveries were made, etc. Patents can be found to be invalid in whole or in part for any of these reasons. Patent infringement occurs when

15640-679: The permission of the other proprietor(s). The ability to assign ownership rights increases the liquidity of a patent as property. Inventors can obtain patents and then sell them to third parties. The third parties then own the patents and have the same rights to prevent others from exploiting the claimed inventions, as if they had originally made the inventions themselves. The grant and enforcement of patents are governed by national laws, and also by international treaties, where those treaties have been given effect in national laws. Patents are granted by national or regional patent offices, i.e. national or regional administrative authorities. A given patent

15776-417: The possibility of perpetual rights, provided the trademark is continuously used and renewed. However, if a trademark is no longer in use, its registration may be subject to cancellation. Trademarks can also lose protection through genericide , a process where a trademark becomes so widely used to refer to a category of goods or services that it loses its distinctiveness and legal protection. A well-known example

15912-690: The procedures under the European Patent Convention (EPC) [constituting the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg)], that centralize some portion of the filing and examination procedure. Similar arrangements exist among the member states of ARIPO and OAPI , the analogous treaties among African countries, and the nine CIS member states that have formed the Eurasian Patent Organization . A key international convention relating to patents

16048-443: The proprietors of the patent when and if it is granted. If a patent is granted to more than one proprietor, the laws of the country in question and any agreement between the proprietors may affect the extent to which each proprietor can exploit the patent. For example, in some countries, each proprietor may freely license or assign their rights in the patent to another person while the law in other countries prohibits such actions without

16184-400: The reasonable requirements of the public have been met by the working of invention. In most jurisdictions, there are ways for third parties to challenge the validity of an allowed or issued patent at the national patent office; these are called opposition proceedings . It is also possible to challenge the validity of a patent in court. In either case, the challenging party tries to prove that

16320-472: The registration of the trademark. A comprehensive clearance search can help avoid costly and time-consuming issues, such as refusal to register, opposition or cancellation proceedings, or a trademark infringement lawsuit. In the United States, the USPTO maintains a publicly accessible database of registered trademarks. This database can be searched using the Trademark Search system, which replaced

16456-437: The relevant area of technology) to make and use the invention. In some countries there are requirements for providing specific information such as the usefulness of the invention, the best mode of performing the invention known to the inventor, or the technical problem or problems solved by the invention. Drawings illustrating the invention may also be provided. The application also includes one or more claims that define what

16592-468: The relevant country. Although an infringer is generally free to rely on any available ground of invalidity (such as a prior publication , for example), some countries have sanctions to prevent the same validity questions being relitigated. An example is the UK Certificate of contested validity . Patent licensing agreements are contracts in which the patent owner (the licensor) agrees to grant

16728-420: The relevant national authority. Using the ® symbol for unregistered trademarks is misleading and can be treated as unfair business practice. It may also result in civil or criminal penalties. A brand is a marketing concept that reflects how consumers perceive a product or service. It has a much wider meaning and refers to the proprietary visual, emotional, rational, and cultural image that customers associate with

16864-406: The rest are support staff. While the agency has noticeably grown in recent years, the rate of growth was far slower in fiscal 2009 than in the recent past; this is borne out by data from fiscal 2005 to the present: As of the end of FY 2018, the USPTO was composed of 12,579 federal employees, including 8,185 patent examiners, 579 trademark examiners, and 3,815 other staff. Patent examiners make up

17000-426: The same article. For example, the particular design of a bottle may qualify for copyright protection as a non-utilitarian [sculpture], or trademark protection based on its shape, or the ' trade dress ' appearance of the bottle as a whole may be protectable. Titles and character names from books or movies may also be protectable as trademarks while the works from which they are drawn may qualify for copyright protection as

17136-404: The same category of goods the trademark is protected under. An example of the second type is that Audi can run advertisements saying that a trade publication has rated an Audi model higher than a BMW model since they are only using "BMW" to identify the competitor. In a related sense, an auto mechanic can truthfully advertise that he services Volkswagens , and a former Playboy Playmate of

17272-443: The scope of the patent may not be limited to what is literally stated in the claims, for example due to the doctrine of equivalents .) An accused infringer has the right to challenge the validity of the patent allegedly being infringed in a counterclaim . A patent can be found invalid on grounds described in the relevant patent laws, which vary between countries. Often, the grounds are a subset of requirements for patentability in

17408-610: The sharpest declines and inclines in American history. During the spring, COVID-19 lockdowns led to reduced filings, which then increased in July 2020 to exceed the previous year. August 2020 was subsequently the highest month of trademark filings in the history of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The USPTO only allows certain qualified persons to practice before the USPTO. Practice includes filing of patent and trademark applications on behalf of individuals and companies, prosecuting

17544-484: The stone's origin and the workers responsible. Wine amphorae marked with seals were also found in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun , who ruled ancient Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. Over 2,000 years ago, Chinese manufacturers sold goods marked with identifying symbols in the Mediterranean region. Trademarks have also been discovered on pottery, porcelain, and swords produced by merchants in ancient Greece and

17680-908: The trademarks are registered on either the Principal Register or the Supplemental Register , depending upon whether the mark meets the appropriate distinctiveness criteria. This federal system governs goods and services distributed via interstate commerce, and operates alongside state level trademark registration systems. Trademark applications have grown substantially in recent years, jumping from 296,490 new applications in 2000, to 345,000 new applications in 2014, to 458,103 new applications in 2018. Recent growth has been driven partially by growing numbers of trademark applications originating in China; trademark applications from China have grown more than 12-fold since 2013, and in 2017, one in every nine trademark applications reviewed by

17816-431: The university's patenting activity plateaued in the 2010s. Incidentally, only 20% of Stanford patents in that dataset produced a positive net income for the university, while the rest was a net loss. Similar declines have been noted not only for the number of patents, but also for other measures of innovation output. Several hypotheses have been proposed as explanations for the observed decline: A patent does not give

17952-499: Was 597,579 unexamined patent applications in the backlog. During the four years since 2009, more than a 50% reduction was achieved. First action pendency was reported as 19.2 months. In 2012, the USPTO initiated an internal investigation into allegations of fraud by employees taking advantage of its remote work policies. Investigators discovered that some patent examiners had lied about the hours they had worked, but high level officials prevented access to computer records, thus limiting

18088-446: Was an open document or instrument issued by a monarch or government granting exclusive rights to a person, predating the modern patent system. Similar grants included land patents , which were land grants by early state governments in the US, and printing patents , a precursor of modern copyright . In modern usage, the term patent usually refers to the right granted to anyone who invents something new, useful and non-obvious. A patent

18224-472: Was created during the Revolution in 1791. Patents were granted without examination since inventor's right was considered as a natural one. Patent costs were very high (from 500 to 1,500 francs). Importation patents protected new devices coming from foreign countries. The patent law was revised in 1844 – patent cost was lowered and importation patents were abolished. The first Patent Act of

18360-612: Was incorporated into the Statute of Monopolies (1624) in which Parliament restricted the Crown's power explicitly so that the King could only issue letters patent to the inventors or introducers of original inventions for a fixed number of years. The Statute became the foundation for later developments in patent law in England and elsewhere. Important developments in patent law emerged during

18496-596: Was the World's leader in terms of patent families filed between 1900 and 1966, when Japan took over. Since 2007 PR China leads. However, in most technologically advanced countries (see, for example, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, the UK in the figure on the right, as well as in Poland ), the total (i.e. regardless of the priority/inventors' country) number of patent families filed there have been declining in absolute numbers since c.  1970s –1980s. The decline

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