Learn About the Four Types of Patents that Protect Intellectual Property

Learn About the Four Types of Patents that Protect Intellectual Property

Any kind of invention that you come up with is your intellectual property. If you are not careful, however, you can end up losing out big time on something that you have worked so hard for. Just like any other business, it is important to know how to best protect your investment. In this case your invention is your investment since it can open up doors to greatness. Patents work best when it comes to protecting what is rightfully yours from unauthorized usage. 

Here are the four common types of patents that you can use to protect intellectual property.

1. Utility patents
 

They can be termed as the most common of all the patent types. This is because they cover most of the categories. This type of patent offers protection to how something works and how it is used. It can be anything from a machine, a process or even a composition matter of an item or products. The patents are meant to protect inventions that are useful in terms of purpose and functionality like car engines and important tools or machines. 

2. Design patents
 

They are the next most popular types of patents. They usually revolve around visual shapes or designs applied or embodied in a manufacture article. By creating a design patent, you are basically creating an ornamental feature that is new to an item. For instance, if you created a new computer that has a design that is unique and never thought before, you can lay claim to two different patents by law. The first would be a utility patent for the machine itself and the second would be a design patent for the ornamental feature in the creative unique design or shape of the computer. 

3. Plant patents
 

This category is applicable to inventors or discoverers of distinct new plant variety. It could also be helpful to asexual reproduction to achieve as long as the plant itself cannot on any way be found in an uncultivated state. It is important to understand that asexual reproduction involves the propagation of plants to multiply without the use of any genetic seed to get a genetic copy of the plant. There are different modes of reproduction that are labeled under this category by the United States Trademark and Patent. When you have filed for this patent, it will cover your invention for up to 20 years. This gives you exclusive rights to the reproduction, using and selling of the plant in any way that you wish to. 

4. Software patents
 

Still under types of patents you will find the software patents. They offer protection to original computer software. The software in question must however be useful, novel and not obvious to an ordinary skilled person in the computer software field. It means, therefore that there must be something really unique about it that sets it apart from what anyone else can come up with. Because of the difficulties in defining what non-obvious elements can be in a software patent, it can fall under plant, deigns and utility patent classes.

Patents can be quite complicated. If you are not sure of the types of patents and which one best suits your invention, you can use the help of experienced patent attorneys to get you through the details as well as the filing process.

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