Patent Laws & Regulations

• Patent protection is authorized by the U.S. Constitution.Watch mechanism close up image by Dmitry Rukhlenko from Fotolia.com
  
  Patent protection allows an inventor to temporarily exclude others from using, making or selling an invention identical or similar to the patented invention. This exclusion applies even if another inventor creates the same invention independently. In exchange, the inventor is required to allow publication of the details of the invention and abandon exclusive rights to use, make or sell it after the patent period expires. Patent protection extends for 14 to 20 years, depending on the type of patent, and can be extended in some cases.
  
  

U.S. Constitution

• Article 1, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which reads, "The Congress shall have Power...to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries," provides the basis for U.S. patent and copyright law. Because this clause vests the power to grant patents to the U.S. Congress, state governments are not permitted to issue patents.
  
  

U.S. Code

• The U.S. Code is the official collection of federal statutes enacted by the US Congress. Title 35 of the U.S. Code governs patents. Federal statutes are subject only to limitations imposed by the U.S. Constitution as interpreted by the courts. Title 35 sets out the broad strokes of U.S. patent law and is the primary source of reference for patent protection in the U.S. It governs the standards for patentability, the duration and the scope of patent rights.
  
  

Code of Federal Regulations

• The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the official collection of regulations enacted by the US federal government. Chapter 37, Part 1 governs patents. Federal regulations are established by federal agencies and must be consistent with federal statutes and the U.S. Constitution as interpreted by the courts. The CFR deals with detailed aspects of patent law such as the content of patent applications, application procedures and record-keeping requirements. Most U.S. patent regulations were created by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
  
  

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

• The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is an international treaty to which the U.S. acceded in 1994. GATT sets certain standards for patent law in all member nations and required significant changes in U.S. patent law. These changes only became effective when amendments to the U.S. Code and the CFR were enacted in 1995 and 1996. GATT required the U.S. to extend patent protection for most types of patents to 20 years, allow simplified provisional applications in order to establish early priority dates and reform its treatment of acts of invention outside the U.S.
  
  

Patent Cooperation Treaty

• The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) was enacted in 1970 and went into effect in 1978, with the U.S. as one of the original 18 contracting states. The U.S. incorporated PCT requirements into the U.S. Code and the CFR on January 24, 1978. As of September 24, 2009 there were 142 contracting states. The PCT establishes a system that allows the initial phases of patent examinations to be performed by an international body if the applicant so chooses. The final stages of examination are performed by individual national patent offices.