UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

• INTERNATIONAL TREATIES TO WHICH UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS SIGNATORY

  • International Treaties to which the United States is signatory:

    • Paris Convention for the protection of industrial property
    • Patent Co-operation Treaty – PCT.
    • Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights –TRIPS.
    • Budapest Treaty On The International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro Organisms For The Purposes of Patent Procedure.
• PATENT LEGISLATION IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  • The American legal system is based on the Common Law tradition of the English Law. Patents in America are governed by:

    Patents are granted by the United States Patent Office – USPTO.

• BASICS REGARDING PATENTABILITY OF INVENTIONS IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  • Inventions may relate to products, processes or industrial applications. Patents are therefore granted to inventions that:

    • Are New or Novel
    • Involve an inventive step
    • Comprise of a process or an Industrial application of the invention.

    For an Invention to be patentable, it should contain the following:

    (i).Novelty: An invention is considered new or novel if it is not included in the state of the art. State of the art consists of all the information available and accessible to the public prior to the date of filing for the patent application nationally or internationally by means of its description, use or any other method by which it may be known or utilised by experts in the field.

    (ii). Inventive Step: is, given the prevailing state of the art, it is not obvious to an expert in that field. An invention is considered ‘obvious’ when it is within the grasp of a skilled person in that field of expertise & therefore to be expected from him.

    (iii). Industrial Application: of the invention would be ‘when the object of the invention may be produced, manufactured or used in any kind of industry including agriculture’

• INVENTIONS NOT PATENTABLE IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  • nventions pertaining to the following:

    (i). Anything occurring naturally such as a mathematical formula or a newly discovered species.

    (ii). Processes done entirely by human motor co-ordination such as exercise routines and exercises.

    (iii). Inventions useful only for illegal purposes.

    (iv). Non operable inventions such as perpetual motion machines.

    (v). Inventions violating certain basic scientific principles.

    (i). A process or method for producing a useful concrete and tangible result which includes computer software, a new e-business model, a process for manufacturing something made by hand.

    (ii). A machine, that is something with moving parts or circuitry, such as an engine, a new kind of printer etc.

    (iii). An article of manufacture such as garden tools, containers tyres etc.

    (iv). Composition of mater such as Shampoos, Soft Drinks, Drugs etc.

    (v). An improvement of an invention in one of the above categories.

    PartityPatents Law Firms through its associates in United States of America is at hand to help you with patent registration and prosecution.

• FILING REQUIREMENTS OF PATENTS IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  • (i). Name & Address & Nationality of the Applicant.

    (ii). Name & Address & Nationality of the Inventor.

    (iii). Specification comprising a description claims & drawings if any.

    (iv). Priority Data if any.

    (v). State of incorporation / nationality of the Applicant.

    (vi). Abstract of the Invention.

    (vii). Indications serving to identify the identity of the inventor(s) as well as the Solicitor.

    (viii) Request for examination of the patent.

    (ix). If the patent application relates to a micro-organism or a process in which a micro-organism is used, it is necessary to include a certificate of deposit of the micro-organism with an officially recognised national depositary institution designated by the Government.

    • Only the inventor may apply for a patent
    • Two or more persons making an invention jointly must apply for a patent as joint inventors.
    • All inventors must be listed on the patent application.
• EXAMINATION OF THE PATENT APPLICATION IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
  • • Once the application is filed, the application is scrutinised for defence & security aspects.
    • The patentability of the invention.
    • The patent application is unitary.
    • The priority is claimed appropriately.
    • The invention complies with the patentability conditions.
• RIGHTS OF THE PATENTEE IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  • RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF THE PATENTEE IN USA:

    • Patents confer to its holders or his successors an exclusive right to work the invention.
    • Patentee may authorise such uses of the patent through a contractual agreement with interested parties as to import, rent out, deliver or sell the product patent .
    • He may authorise the working of the patent either by a manufacturer or by an importer.
    • Patentee may even assign, lease or licence the patent.
    • He is entitled to take legal action against infringers.
• COMPULSORY LICENCES OF PATENTS IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  • A Federal agency may grant an exclusive or partially exclusive license on a federally owned invention only if:

    1. granting the license is a reasonable and necessary incentive to:

    (i) call forth the investment capital and expenditures needed to bring the invention to practical application; or

    (ii) promote the invention’s utilization by the public;

    (iii) the Federal agency finds that the public will be served by the granting of the license, as indicated by the applicant’s intentions, plans, and ability to bring the invention to practical application

    2. the applicant makes a commitment to achieve practical application of the invention within a reasonable time, which time may be extended by the agency upon the applicant’s request and the applicant’s demonstration that the refusal of such extension would be unreasonable;

    3. granting the license will not tend to substantially lessen competition or create or maintain a violation of the Federal antitrust laws; and

    4. in the case of an invention covered by a foreign patent application or patent, the interests of the Federal Government or United States industry in foreign commerce will be enhanced.

    5. a Federal agency shall normally grant a license to use or sell any federally owned invention in the United States only to a licensee who agrees that any products embodying the invention or produced through the use of the invention will be manufactured substantially in the United States.

    6. first preference for the granting of any exclusive or partially exclusive licenses shall be given to small business firms having equal or greater likelihood as other applicants to bring the invention to practical application within a reasonable time.

    7. any licenses granted shall contain such terms and conditions as the granting agency considers appropriate, and shall include the following provisions:

    (i) retaining a non transferrable, irrevocable, paid-up license for any Federal agency to practice the invention or have the invention practiced throughout the world by or on behalf of the Government of the United States;

    (ii) requiring periodic reporting on utilization of the invention, and utilization efforts, by the licensee, but only to the extent necessary to enable the Federal agency to determine whether the terms of the license are being complied with, except that any such report shall be treated by the Federal agency as commercial and financial information obtained from a person and privileged and confidential and not subject to disclosure.

    (iii) empowering the Federal agency to terminate the license in whole or in part if the agency determines that the licensee is not executing its commitment to achieve practical application of the invention, including commitments contained in any plan submitted in support of its request for a license, and the licensee cannot otherwise demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Federal agency that it has taken, or can be expected to take within a reasonable time, effective steps to achieve practical application of the invention;

    (iv) no Federal agency shall grant any license under a patent or patent application on a federally owned invention unless the person requesting the license has supplied the agency with a plan for development or marketing of the invention, except that any such plan shall be treated by the Federal agency as commercial and financial information obtained from a person and privileged and confidential and not subject to disclosure.

    ParityPatents along with specialised Patent Lawyers and Patent Attorneys in United States of America, can assist you comprehensively with Compulsory Licence matters. 

     

• PATENTS Cost of Registration in UNITED STATES OF AMERICA