Partner – Litigation Practice Chair
John Skeriotis
Areas of Practice
Intellectual Property, Patent, Trademarks, Copyright, Internet Law, Litigation, Licensing
ASSERT YOUR PATENT RIGHTS WITH HELP FROM ETB LAW
A patent protects the owner’s right to utilize their invention exclusively, among other privileges. When you create something, you alone should have the right to profit from it for a significant amount of time. Without a patent, you run the risk of losing the rights to your invention as others use it all they want. If you want to maintain control over what you create, contact the patent litigation attorneys at Emerson Thomson Bennett for help.
What Does a Patent Allow You to Do?
Patents last for 20 years before your invention joins the public domain. Patents give their holders several different rights over an invention that they can use to gain profit, compete with competitors, and prevent theft. Specifically, patent holders have:
- Exclusive Production Rights: Patents give their owner exclusive rights to manufacture their invention. This means that no other entity can make the product without written permission. This gives patent holders the control over the supply of their invention.
- Exclusive Use Rights: Since some patents are processes rather than inventions, patents give their holders the right to use rather than produce. There are also inventions that you don’t mean to sell but utilize for your business. In either case, a patent can keep others from using your process or invention without your permission.
- Exclusive Selling Rights: You don’t have to keep your invention to yourself. You can give others the right to produce or use your invention by having them sign a license. This can give them specific rights and instructions on how to use your invention/process. This way, you can profit from your invention through partners who aren’t your competitors or who offer substantially similar products.
- Right to Sue for Infringement: If someone utilizes your invention without your permission, you have the right to sue them for damages based on infringement. Only patent holders must have this right if they are licensing out their invention. This means that any partners who have a license to your product cannot sue for damages. At the same time, while the potential profits are all yours, so is the responsibility to defend your patent.
These rights are crucial for protecting the intellectual property of inventors and ensuring they can capitalize on their innovations. Here’s a breakdown of the key rights conferred to patent owners.
What are the Different Types of Patents?
There are several different types of patents that you can file. These different types take into account the form of your invention so they can be correctly protected from patent infringement. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recognizes three main types that protect different aspects of an inventor’s work:
- Utility Patents: These are the most common type of patents issued. These are given out for inventions, processes, machines, articles of manufacture, and compositions of matter or any new and useful improvements thereof.
- Design Patents: Design patents protect the aesthetic design of inventions. You don’t need to own a utility patent before you can file a design patent. If you want your invention to look a certain way to stand out from inventions that serve a similar purpose, you’ll want to utilize a design patent. This way, competitors can’t try to copy your designs. These only last 15 years, 5 less than typical patents because they are not protecting an invention themselves.
- Plant Patents: If you create or discover a new variety of plants that can reproduce, you can file for a patent on it. It’s important to note that you are patenting the specific plant as it grows in your environment. If there are other plants of the same species but have different traits from growing in other places, your patent does not include them.
Contact the Patent Law Attorneys at Emerson Thomson Bennett For More Information
At the law firm of Emerson Thomson Bennett, we have extensive experience representing clients on both sides of patent litigation disputes. A client’s patent portfolio is often their most important asset and we treat it that way.
Our goal is always to be responsive to the client’s needs, making the client a part of our litigation team. We aggressively pursue our client’s rights to ensure the best outcomes. For a review of our patent litigation experience and our outcomes in numerous litigations, please visit our Notable Cases page.
Contact our office to discuss your patent litigation needs with a lawyer. You can reach our attorneys by phone at 330-870-9333.
