Patents


Qualifying for a Patent

Oct 21, 1999

A patent is a document issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) that grants a monopoly for a limited period of time on the manufacture, use an...  Read story

Obtaining Your Own Patent Should Be Easy

Oct 21, 1999

Many of us muse about the million-dollar idea: the invention that will make life easier for others and more lucrative for us. Most of these ideas never ge...  Read story

Doing Away With a Bumbling Barrister

Oct 22, 1999

Q: Can I fire the lawyer who filed my patent application for me and have the patent office recognize me or some other lawyer as the perso...  Read story

Patent Protection Too Costly, Some Firms Find

Sep 1, 1981

Faced with higher patent fees and the prospect of having to defend their patents in court, small innovative firms are finding other ways to protect their ...  Read story

Protecting Your Intellectual Property the Affordable Way

By David E. Gumpert |  Nov 9, 1999

The matter of legally protecting your intellectual property can get quite complex -- and expensive. You likely don't want to spend endless hours sorting t...  Read story

Big Business Cries Foul

By Tom Richman |  Nov 1, 1981

Small companies can patent government-funded inventions -- and the big guys don't like it.  Read story

How Trademarks Differ from Patents and Copyrights

May 12, 2000

Trademarks are often mentioned in the same breath as copyrights and patents. While they do sometimes apply to the same thing, they're more often defined b...  Read story

Five Ways To Protect Your Ideas

By Marvin Petry |  Jan 1, 1982

These legal tools can keep you safe from marketplace predators.  Read story

Hoyle Schweitzer's Decade Of Discontent

By Robert A. Mamis |  Feb 1, 1982

When Windsurfing's president discovered that his product had already been invented, he applied for a new patent. But 20 competitors are betting it can't be e...  Read story

The Easy Way to " Patent Pending" Status

Nov 1, 2000

Inventors know that inventions are often new solutions to old problems. An invention by Congress -- the Provisional Patent Application -- is a good exampl...  Read story

Making Your Own Patent Drawings

Nov 1, 2000

You've invented something wonderful. You've prepared rough sketches and the written part of thepatent application yourself, saving thousands of dollars by...  Read story

Internet Business Method Patents

By Rich Stim |  Nov 1, 2000

A company that develops a new way of conducting e-commerce may be able to prevent others fromusing it for almost two decades. Since 1998, an increasing nu...  Read story

The End of Stealth Mode for Patents

By Susan Greco |  Dec 1, 2000

It will become harder for companies with new inventions to remain in "stealth mode," thanks to a major change in patent law that was scheduled to take eff...  Read story

Higher Patent Fees Irk Small Inventors

Aug 1, 1982

The Reagan Administration's continuing effort to trim the federal budget has struck a raw nerve with American inventors. To pay for its overhead costs, t...  Read story

How Arbitration Can Cool Patent Disputes

Sep 1, 1982

A patent sometimes isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Instead of protecting against competitors, it may result in costly court fights as a company su...  Read story

Strategic Patenting

By Jennifer A. Redmond |  Jul 24, 2002

What to consider when you're filing a patent and strategic decisions you'll need to make.  Read story

Inventions and Patents

Related Terms: Copyright ; Read story

Patent and Trademark Office (PTO)

Related Terms: Inventions and Patents Read story

Copycat And Mouse

By Lisa R. Sheeran |  Apr 1, 1986

When you file a patent-infringement suit, about the only sure result is the size of the legal bill.  Read story

Patently Wrong;

By Nell Margolis |  Apr 1, 1986

ALLIED CORP. SPENT 13 YEARS and more than $75 million developing a metals-manufacturing process. But when 11 German and Japanese companies copied Allied'...  Read story

How To Follow The Leader

By HENRY D. COLEMAN AND JOHN D. VANDENBERG |  Jul 1, 1988

There's nothing wrong with copying your competitors' good ideas -- provided you play by the rules  Read story

Patent Pending

By Erik Larson |  Mar 1, 1989

Story of an inventor's 30-year battle to gain control of patent rights to the laser technology he helped develop.  Read story

Blind Ambition

By Edward O. Welles |  Nov 1, 1989

Two companies fight over the patent rights to fiber optic HDTV (high-definition television).  Read story

Network: August 1991

By Michael P. Cronin |  Aug 1, 1991

Network resources.  Read story

How to Write a Patent Application

By Alessandra Bianchi |  Jul 1, 1993

Ordering information for How to Write a Patent Application by Jeffrey G. Sheldon.  Read story

Patent Harmonization: Bad News for Inventors?

By Martha E. Mangelsdorf |  Nov 1, 1993

Proposed changes in patent system could harm small inventors.  Read story

Patently Unsafe: Inventors Beware

By Phaedra Hise |  Nov 1, 1994

A look at what is being done to stop unscrupulous "invention-marketing firms" from preying on victims.  Read story

National Research Council Suggests U.S. PTO Reform

By Jessalyn Swindoll

April 2004 --With the growing prominence of technology in every industry, patents are playing an important role in our economy. A recent p...  Read story

Patent Law Reform Proposed

By Priya Ganapati |  May 10, 2005

May 10, 2005 --A bill that proposes amendments to the U.S. Patents Act is likely to be introduced in the House of Representatives before J...  Read story

Owners Urged To Seek Patents

By Angus Loten |  Sep 6, 2005

September 6, 2005 --Already swamped by applications, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has launched an outreach program to encourage mo...  Read story

Small Businesses Largest Holders of Patents

By Daniel Del'Re |  Oct 7, 2005

Oct. 7, 2005 --The small businesses that employ almost half of the country's workers may also be responsible for the nation's technical cr...  Read story

Supreme Court Case Could Make it Harder to File for Patents in the Future

By Angus Loten |  Mar 20, 2006

A seemingly provincial dispute between a clinical testing firm and a group of university researchers is said to have implications on the definition of intell...  Read story

Study: Patents Failing Small Business

By Alexandra Zendrian |  Feb 21, 2008

Under the current system, many patents fail to meet set standards, a small-business group says.  Read story

U.S. Leading Global Patents

By Alexandra Zendrian |  Mar 10, 2008

Patent applications hit a record high last year, an international IP group reports.  Read story

Is Your Patent Safe?

By Kelly Faircloth |  Feb 18, 2009

Supreme Court asked to hear a case that would determine whether business methods in any industry are patentable.  Read story

Supreme Court Reexamines Patent Laws

By Alexandra Cheney |  Jun 17, 2009

A reversal of the earlier decision that business methods are not patentable could likely change the face of business.  Read story

Tips for Inventors

Nov 15, 2006

Nov. 15, 2006 -- Senior officials of the United States Patent and Trademark Office will be available online tomorrow at 2 p.m. (EST) to a...  Read story

U.S. Leads in International Patent Applications

Mar 12, 2007

March 12, 2007 -- The United States accounted for more than a third of total patent applications filed with the World International Paten...  Read story

Businesses Rally for Patent Law Reform

Mar 21, 2007

March 21, 2007 -- As many as 40 U.S. businesses have joined forces to rally for stronger patent laws that better protect American-made in...  Read story

A Business Model of One's Own

By Leigh Buchanan |  Nov 1, 1998

A recent decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has allowed an Internet-based company to patent its own business model. Will this be a barrier to n...  Read story