Types
of Patents
Utility patent: is a patent for invention.
This focuses on a process, machine, manufactured item or composition
of matter (idea that have been reduced to practice). Its protection
start date depends on when the patent application was filed.
If the application was filed on or after June 8, 1995 (for
US patents) then the term is 20 years from the first filing
date for the patent.
Design patent: allows any person who has
invented any new and non-obvious ornamental design for an
article of manufacture to protect that design. The design
patent protects only the appearance of an article, but not
its structural or functional features. Design patents have
a term of 14 years in the USA.
Plant patent: grants a patent to anyone
who has invented, discovered or asexually reproduced any distinct
and new variety of plant, including cultivated sports, mutants,
hybrids and newly found seedlings, other than a tuber- propagated
plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state. Plant patents
have a term of 17 years in the USA.
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