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Types of Patents
Scientific and Laboratory Patents
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Is your company preparing to file a Patent for a scientific or laboratory instrument, equipment, or other lab supplies? In the United States, the US Patent and Trademark Office
issues patents. It has three basic type of patents;
* Utility Patent- Issued for the invention of a new and
useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of
matter, or a new and useful improvement thereof, it
generally permits its owner to exclude others from
making, using, or selling the invention for a period of
up to twenty years from the date of patent application
filing ++, subject to the payment of maintenance fees.
Approximately 90% of the patent documents issued by the
USPTO in recent years have been utility patents, also
referred to as "patents for invention".
* Design Patent- Issued for a new, original, and
ornamental design embodied in or applied to an article
of manufacture, it permits its owner to exclude others
from making, using, or selling the design for a period
of fourteen years from the date of patent grant.
* Plant Patent- Issued for a new and distinct, invented
or discovered asexually reproduced plant including
cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found
seedlings, other than a tuber propagated plant or a
plant found in an uncultivated state, it permits its
owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling
the plant for a period of up to twenty years from the
date of patent application filing ++.
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