Extract
Patents
BackgroundArticle I of the United States Constitution provides Congress with the power to "promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to—inventors the exclusive right to their—discoveries." Pursuant to this provision, Congress established rules and regulations governing the granting of patents. Congress delegated the administration of these duties to the Patent and Trademark Office. The statutory provisions are contained in Title 35 of the United States Code. The federal statutory scheme was modified considerably in 1995 with the adoption of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which aligned U. S. patent law with patent laws in other countries.Issuance of patents is exclusively a federal concern, so state governments cannot issue patents to protect inventions. However, some state laws may provide protection to inventors if the inventor does not attain a patent.Only certain types of inventions may be patented. The three major types of patents are utility, design, and plant patents, definition...See the full content of this document
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