A Select Guide to Patent and Trademark Information

What is a Patent?

A patent is defined as “a grant by the government, to an inventor, conferring the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling his/her invention for a limited period of time.”1 Patents not only serve to protect the interest of the inventor, they are also a valuable source of technical information. There are different types of patents, for example:

• A utility patent “may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new, useful, and nonobvious process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof.”
   
• A design patent “may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.”
   
• A plant patent “may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.”2 

What is a trademark?

A trademark is a "word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others."3 Trademarks can be used to prevent others from making a similar mark which may cause confusion. However, it does not prevent others from making the same product, or to sell similar goods and products using a clearly different mark.

Sources:

1. Gordon, Thomas T. (1995). Patent fundamentals for scientists and engineers. Boca Raton: CRC Lewis. 

2. United States Patent and Trademark Office (2002). United States Patent and Trademark Office: Glossary. Washington, D.C.: USPTO. Retrieved 20 May, 2002 from http://www.uspto.gov/main/glossary/index.html 

3. United States Patent and Trademark Office (2002). Basic Facts about Trademarks. Washington, DC: USPTO. Retrieved 22 May, 2002 from http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/doc/basic/trade_defin.htm  

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Last updated: 31-10-2008