Skip to Main Content

Patents and Trademarks: Patents

Briggs Library is a Patent and Trademark Resource Center in conjunction with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

What Can and Can't be Patented?

What can be patented: 4 Primary Criteria

  • Useful - the invention must work, not be just a theory
  • Described - the patent must include a clear description of how to make the invention
  • Novel - the invention must be new
  • Not obvious - a change must not be obvious to an ordinary person with knowledge of the technology being used. For example substituting soy milk for cow's milk in a recipe is obvious.

What can't be patented

  • Laws of nature
  • Physical phenomena
  • Ideas
  • Literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works (these would fall under Copyright)
  • Inventions which are:
    • Not useful
    • Offensive to public morality

Patent Glossary & Acronyms

  • Abandoned: Patent applications may be abandoned if the patentee does not reply to an office action in a timely manner. When an application is abandoned, the process is concluded with the rejection of the application.
  • Abstract: Brief summary describing the of the invention.
  • Amendment: A modification of a patent application. The specification, cliams, or abstract may be amended.
  • Application publication: The formally published patent application. This typically happens 18 months after application or the earliest claimed priority date.
  • Claim: A statement that define an element of an invention. All patent applications must include at least one claim.
    • Independent claim: A statement defining an invention without referring to another claim.
      • Example from US 11800882 B2: 1. A method of producing a high protein dried distiller's grains with solubles (HP-DDGS) protein concentrate comprising: a. forming a mash with an aqueous medium containing plant material comprising DDGS; b. transferring the resulting mash to one or more bioreactors; c. inoculating the mash in the one or more bioreactors with at least one microbe, wherein said at least one microbe releases one or more cellulose degrading enzymes and at least one peptidase into the mash, whereby said microbe converts plant materials into biomass; d. separating the inoculated material into supernatant and solids fractions via centrifugation; and e. drying said solids, wherein the resulting HP-DDGS protein concentrate comprises microbes, exopolysaccharides and has a protein content of greater than 32% in the absence of distillation.
    • Dependent claim: A statement that further clarifies an independent claim.
      • Example from US 11800882 B2: 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the solids are optionally washed and re-exposed to centrifugation prior to drying.
    • Multiply dependent claim:  A statement that depends on more than one other claim.
      • Example from US 11800882 B2: 16. A composition comprising the concentrate produced by the method of claim 1 or claim 13.
  • Disclosure: Often interchanged with Specification. Description of an invention.
  • Drawings: Line drawings or photographs included to help describe the invention.
  • Final office action: A formal written rejection of a patent given after prior office actions. After the "final" office action, an applicant has the right to file an appeal to the Board of patent Appeals and Interferences or submitting another written response to the rejection.
  • Grant: Synonymous with "Issue". The publication of the patent with the date on which the patentee can begin enforcing the patent.
  • Information material to patentability: Information that compels a decision that an application is unpatentable.
  • Infringement: The unauthorized making, using, offering to sell, selling, or importing into the United States any patented invention.
  • License: A legal document by which the owner of a patent grants to another party the right to practice the patented invention without the patent owner giving up ownership.
  • Maintenance fee: Fee to the US Patent and Trademark Office required to maintain a patent.
  • Non-obviousness: An invention must not be obvious based on previously known technology to be patentable.
  • Novelty: Invention must be distinctly different from any inventions.
  • Obviousness: The invention is deemed to be obvious from existing technology making the invention unpatentable.
  • Prior art: Document or other evidence previous to the patent application used in the evaluation of a patent application for patentability.
  • Priority: The current patent application may claim an earlier date based on a foreign patent or a previous US patent application.
  • Provisional application: An early patent application requiring less stringent formalities and allowing the applicant 1 year to file a full patent application. The regular patent application can rely on the earlier date of the provisional application (priority).
  • Provisional rights: Provides limited patent rights for the period between the provisional application and the date of issue of a full patent.
  • Rejection: Declaration that an invention is not patentable for a specified reason(s).
  • Specification: Often interchanged with Disclosure. Description of an invention.

US 11800882 B2: Gibbons, W. & Brown M.L., 2023, Microbial-based Process for high Quality Protein Concentrate, US 11800882 B2, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, https://ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/11800882

  • ABSS: system designed to search electronic sequence listing data submitted by applicants and molecular sequences using applicant submissions and commercial databases of published sequence information.
  • AIA: America Invents Act (Leahy-Smith America Invents Act), Public Law 112-29.
  • AIPA: American Inventors Protection Act of 1999, PL 106-113.
  • AIPLA: American Intellectual Property Law Association
  • BPAI: Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
  • CPC: Cooperative Patent Classification (between US Patent and Trademark Office and European Patent Office)
  • EAST: Examiner Automated Search Tools
  • EPO: European Patent Office
  • IAC: Inventors Assistance Center
  • INTA: International Trademark Association
  • IP: Intellectual Property
  • IPLA: International Patent Legal Administration
  • IPO: Intellectual Property Owners Association
  • IPR: Intellectual Property Rights
  • JPO: Japan Patent Office
  • JPTOS: Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society
  • KIPO: Korean Intellectual Propoerty Office
  • MPEP: Manual of Patent Examining Procedure
  • NIPLECC: National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council
  • NOA: Notice of Allowance
  • NPL: Non-patent Literature
  • OACS: Office Action Correspondence System
  • OG: Official Gazette (publication of the USPTO)
  • IOPC: Office of International Patent Cooperation
  • OIPE: Office of Initial Patent Examination
  • OPAP: Office of Patent Application Processing
  • OPLA: Office of Patent Legal Administration
  • PCT: Patent Cooperation Treaty
  • PEAI: Patent Enterprise Access Integration
  • PPAC: Patent Public Advisory Committee
  • PRPS: Patent Review Processing System
  • PTA: Patent Term Adjustment
  • PTAB: Patent Trial and Appeal Board
  • PTE: Patent Term Extension
  • PTO: Patent and Trademark Office
  • PTOS: Patent and Trademark Office Society
  • PTRC: Patent and Trademark Resource Center
  • SIPO: State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China
  • TRIPs: Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
  • USPTO: United States Patent and Trademark Office
  • WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization

What is a Patent?

  • Patents are a form of protection for inventions, designs, processes, and some plants.
  • Patents "exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States."1 
  • Patents are granted by the government for a specific period of time in exchange for the public disemination of the invention/design/process/plant.
  • To be granted, an invention must be useful, novel, and non-obvious. 

1. 35 U.S. Code §154

Types of Patent

Utility Patent

  • For new, useful, and nonovbious process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any improvement on these.
  • Most common type of patent.
  • Protects the functionality of an invention.
  • Protects for 20 years.

Design Patent

  • For new, original, and ornamental design for any article of manufacture.
  • Protects the appearance of an invention.
  • Protects for 15 years.

Plant Patent

  • For newly discovered or created and asexually reproduced varieties of plants that are.
  • Plants must be stable, natural, bred, or somatic, and have key characteristics.
  • Tuber propogated plants are not eligible for patents. 
  • Protects the key characteristics of the plant variety.
  • Protects for 20 years.

How do I Search for a Patent?

Where to search for patents:

Foreign Patents

Patents are only applicable in the country in which they are granted. An inventor may apply for patents in other countries after the patent is granted in the original country.

  • World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
  • The Lens - international patent database
    • Searching may be done in Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish
    • Includes records from European Patent Office, USPTO, and the WIPO PCT applications database
  • European Patent Office