LAWCHEK®
& Lawsonline™
Personal Legal Sourcebooks
"LAWCHEK® Intellectual Property"
This is not a substitute for legal advice. An attorney must be consulted. "This
work is protected under the copyright laws of the United States. No
reproduction, use, or disclosure of this work shall be |
What are the benefits of patent protection? |
The
benefits of patent protection include the right to exclude others, the
right to mark products, the right to advertise about patent coverage,
and the potential sale or licensing of the patent rights.
Exclusive rights.
A patent grants the owner the exclusive right to make, use, sell,
offer for sale, or import (any of these acts are referred to as
"practicing") the invention in the United States during the
term of the patent.
35 U.S.C. § 271.
An "exclusive right" is the right to stop someone else
by bringing a lawsuit against them.
A patent does not make it legal for the owner to practice
the invention.
If the invention infringes another patent or is otherwise
illegal, practicing the invention by the owner may well be unlawful.
The patent merely gives the right to stop others.
To enforce this right, the patent owner may have to sue alleged
infringers in federal court.
Patent
marking.
After a U.S. patent application is filed, products described in
the application can be marked with "patent pending" or a
similar notation.
The "patent pending" marking can provide a significant
commercial advantage, because competitors do not know what is covered by
patent protection until the patent issues.
After a patent issues, products covered by the patent may be
marked with the word "patent" or "pat." together
with the number of the patent.
35 U.S.C. §287.
The inclusion of this patent marking on a product informs the
public of the patent status of items in commerce.
This marking is also notice to potential infringers that a
product is covered by the patent.
If a product is not properly marked,
then patent infringement damages can only be collected for acts
occurring after the infringer is placed on actual notice of the
infringement.
Advertising.
A patent owner can advertise that a product is the subject of a
pending or issued patent, provided such advertising is truthful.
Advertising about patent protection may generate customer
goodwill associated with a more sophisticated unique product.
Potential
sale or licensing.
A patent is a discrete asset which can be valued, used as
collateral, licensed or sold.
A patentee can transfer some or all of the rights under the
patent. For
instance, patents can be used as collateral or to increase investor
confidence to obtain financing for a business.
Sale of a business with significant patent rights is likely to
bring about a higher sales price.
Also, patent rights may provide useful leverage to work out
cross-licensing agreements with competitors.
Patent rights can also help a business in other ways.
For example, owning patent rights in a product is often important
in finding companies to help manufacture and/or market the product on a
wider scale than could be accomplished by the patentee alone.
|
This is not a substitute for legal
advice. An
attorney must be consulted.
Copyright © 2009 by LAWCHEK, LTD.
Please contact us
with any questions or comments by e-mail at webmaster@lawchek.net
or by phone at 1-800-529-5121.
Membership Terms &
Conditions
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer
This site produced and powered by enlighten technologies,
inc.™.
COPYRIGHT ©1994 - 2013 enlighten technologies incorporated™