Intellectual property meaning patent [Beginner's Guide]

Last updated : Sept 28, 2022

Is intellectual property the same as patents?

Patents, trademarks and copyrights are all a part of intellectual property, but they each serve important and specific functions.

What is the meaning intellectual property?

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

What is intellectual property and example?

Examples of intellectual property include an author's copyright on a book or article, a distinctive logo design representing a soft drink company and its products, unique design elements of a web site, or a patent on a particular process to, for example, manufacture chewing gum.

What are the 4 types of intellectual property?

Patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets are valuable assets of the company and understanding how they work and how they are created is critical to knowing how to protect them.

What is an example of a patent?

Examples of inventions protected by utility patents are a microwave oven, genetically engineered bacteria for cleaning up oil spills, a computerized method of running cash management accounts, and a method for curing rubber.

What is copyright vs patent?

Before we dive in, here's a quick overview on patents and copyrights: a patent protects inventions and designs, like engines or a phone casing, and a copyright protects original artistic and literary works, like songs or books.

Who owns intellectual property?

Generally, the creator of a work is deemed its owner. However, intellectual property ownership can be determined differently for different types of property and under varying circumstances. For example, if work is created for an employer, the employer is the owner of that intellectual property.

What's another term for intellectual property?

In this page you can discover 7 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for intellectual property, like: copyright, trademark, patent, intellectual property rights and copyright infringement, trade secret, property paradigm in cybercrime and computer.

What is intellectual property and how is it protected?

IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create.

What rights do patents have?

A patent owner has the right to decide who may – or may not – use the patented invention for the period in which the invention is protected. In other words, patent protection means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed, imported, or sold by others without the patent owner's consent.

What are the 7 intellectual property rights?

Rights. Intellectual property rights include patents, copyright, industrial design rights, trademarks, plant variety rights, trade dress, geographical indications, and in some jurisdictions trade secrets.

Can you patent intellectual property?

Many people ask: can ideas be patented? The short answer is no. Unfortunately, despite what you may have heard from late night television commercials, there is no effective way to protect an idea with any form of intellectual property protection. Copyrights protect expression and creativity, not innovation.

What are the 4 types of patents?

• Utility patent. This is what most people think of when they think about a patent.
• Provisional patent.
• Design patent.
• Plant patent.

What are the types of patents?

What kind of patent do you need? There are three types of patents - Utility, Design, and Plant. Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or compositions of matters, or any new useful improvement thereof.

Why is it called a patent?

The word patent originates from the Latin patere, which means "to lay open" (i.e., to make available for public inspection).

What is the purpose of patent?

A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application.

Is copyright a patent?

A patent protects new inventions, processes, or scientific creations, a trademark protects brands, logos, and slogans, and a copyright protects original works of authorship.

Do I need a patent or a trademark?

If you're trying to protect a unique mark that identifies goods from your company, you need to apply for a trademark. If you want to protect a product or the ornamental design of a product, apply for a patent.

Do patents expire?

Patent Expiration Utility patents expire four, eight, and 12 years after issuance of the patent if the maintenance fees are not paid at these points in time. The patent actually expires at 3.5 years, 7.5 years, and 11.5 years, but there is a six-month grace period in which to pay the maintenance fee.

How long is a patent?

A U.S. utility patent, explained above, is generally granted for 20 years from the date the patent application is filed; however, periodic fees are required to maintain the enforceability of the patent.

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Thanks for this great article

Thanks for your comment Delaine Leatherberry, have a nice day.
- Natalia Matushevsky, Staff Member

registered patent attorneys received many questions throughout the course of a day one of the most common questions is is my invention patentable we will look at the various issues that go into answering this question including what is a patent what is patentable and what rights does a patent confer additionally we will look at three types of patents and what each is used for there are three types of patents these three are utility design and plant utility patents are what people think of when they think patents utility patents are patents on useful items these are the patents one would get on an invention such a patent covers the usefulness of a product meaning that a utility patent will protect the useful or functional aspects of an invention design patents are to the ornamental design of an object a simple way to approach design patents is to consider the fins on the car if you remember old 1950s era cars many of them had big fins on them they served no purpose other than to look cool the fins did not make the cars faster improve aerodynamics and did not serve any function they were pure design design patents are to protect these design elements functional parts of the car eg the engine transmission breaks etc would be covered by utility patents instead finally we have plant patents plant patents are to cover new types of flowering plants that can be reproduced asexually flowers are plant sex organs and contain both the male and female parts pollen is basically plant sperm something to keep in mind during allergy season plant patents thus apply to plants that are engineered to reproduce without the use of pollen when a product or process is new and useful it is very likely that it is patentable to be patentable an invention must satisfy three basic elements the invention must be new useful and not obvious the requirement of being new also called the novelty requirement is the easiest for non practitioners to understand but is often the hardest part of the patent prosecution process to get a patent on an invention the invention must be new in practicing patent law much of the process focuses on explaining how and why the invention is different from what came before everything that came before is referred to as the prior art the invention cannot be expressly or implicitly disclosed in any prior art references if there is already a patent for the invention a patent application for the invention a description of the invention in a printed publication or a product and use that already uses the process used by the invention the invention does not meet the novelty requirement usefulness also referred to as the utility requirement is in practice one of the easier parts of the process after all as the saying goes necessity is the mother of invention inventions are almost always solutions to problems the mere fact that it's a solution to an existing problem makes it useful the utility requirement requires us to answer the questions does the invention do anything and does the invention work with yeses non-obviousness is a different problem from novelty to some extent all inventions are combinations of older inventions this is the idea that as Isaac Newton said if I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants the non-obviousness test is asking is the combination that comprises the invention in question obvious an obvious Nissen query asks whether combining two older inventions would be obvious to one skilled in the art one skilled in the art is like the reasonable person who appears frequently in other areas of law but in this case the reasonable person is one who works in or is skilled in the field of the invention an interesting method to describing non-obvious nests as the rhesus problem after Reese's Pieces by this we mean would it have been obvious to combine chocolate in peanut butter many enjoy this combination of flavors but would it have been obvious to combine them in hindsight it is hard to imagine our lives without many of the inventions take for granted but someone had to think of each of them first to get a patent the invention must be a non-obvious combination peanut butter and chocolate are a delicious but not an obvious combination of flavors in Graham versus John Deere company a 1966 United States Supreme Court case the court approached non-obviousness the court employed a three-part factual analysis for determining non-obvious nests the first inquiry is to determine the scope and content of the prior art second the court must examine the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue the third step is to analyze the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art once these factors are analyzed a court will determine whether an invention is non-obvious a patent is not the right to make and use your invention it is the inverse it is the right to prevent others from making using or importing the invention claimed in the patent if a process is covered by a patent then any product that uses that patented process is infringing on that patent the allegedly infringing product is compared with the claims in the original patent to see if the product used the patented process thus infringing on the patent as a corollary to this a patent cannot allow the use of a process that was previously patented by someone else however an improvement on an existing product can be patented while the patent on the original product stays with the original patent holder the new patent can cover the improvement while the party who patents the improvement does not get rights to the original patent the holder of the original patent likewise has no rights to the patented improvement a common example that is applicable to teachers and students is of the dry erase marker and its evolution the marker exists and someone holds a patent on it then someone invented the stackable cap which is the cap on the dry erase marker that allows the markers to connect to one another that cap was an invention and could itself have been patented however holding the patent on the cap does not allow one to build the new dry erase markers someone else holds that patent the patent on the cap hold prevents the original dry erase marker manufacturer from adding the improved cap to the marker so is an invention patentable if it is new useful and not obvious then the answer is yes a patent application may then be drafted and filed with the USPTO a process that is covered in other presentations if one is granted a patent one then has the right to keep others from making using or importing one's invention without one's permission

Thanks Mary your participation is very much appreciated
- Natalia Matushevsky

About the author

Natalia Matushevsky

I've studied medical psychology at Millersville University of Pennsylvania in Millersville and I am an expert in materials engineering. I usually feel naughty. My previous job was floral designer I held this position for 29 years, I love talking about puzzles and model building. Huge fan of Patrick Swayze I practice basketball and collect collectible card games.