                       Types of Patents

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issues several
    different types of patent documents offering different kinds
    of protection and covering different types of subject matter.

    A recently issued USPTO patent document is one of six types,
    generally described below. See U.S. Code Title 35 - Patents, for
    a full description of patents and patent laws.

        *     Utility Patent-  Issued for the invention of a new and
              useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of
              matter, or a new and useful improvement thereof, it
              generally permits its owner to exclude others from
              making, using, or selling the invention for a period of
              up to twenty years from the date of patent application
              filing ++, subject to the payment of maintenance fees.
              Approximately 90% of the patent documents issued by the
              USPTO in recent years have been utility patents, also
              referred to as "patents for invention".

        *     Design Patent-  Issued for a new, original, and
              ornamental design embodied in or applied to an article
              of manufacture, it permits its owner to exclude others
              from making, using, or selling the design for a period
              of fourteen years from the date of patent grant.  Design
              patents are not subject to the payment of maintenance
              fees. Please note that the fourteen year term of a
              design patent is subject to change in the near future.

        *     Plant Patent-  Issued for a new and distinct, invented
              or discovered asexually reproduced plant including
              cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found
              seedlings, other than a tuber propagated plant or a
              plant found in an uncultivated state, it permits its
              owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling
              the plant for a period of up to twenty years from the
              date of patent application filing ++.  Plant patents
              are not subject to the payment of maintenance fees.

        *     Reissue Patent-  Issued to correct an error in an
              already issued utility, design, or plant patent, it
              does not affect the period of protection offered by the
              original patent. However, the scope of patent protection
              can change as a result of the reissue patent.

        *     Defensive Publication (DEF)-  Issued instead of a
              regular utility, design, or plant patent, it offers
              limited protection, defensive in nature, to prevent
              others from patenting an invention, design, or plant.
              The Defensive Publication was replaced by the Statutory
              Invention Registration in 1985-86.

        *     Statutory Invention Registration (SIR)-  This document
              replaced the Defensive Publication in 1985-86 and
              offered similar protection. Please note that the America
              Invents Act (AIA), which was signed into law on September
              16, 2011, repeals provisions pertaining to statutory
              invention registrations and the issue of these documents
              will be discontinued.

    ++   Although, the length of utility and plant patent protection
    (patent term) was previously seventeen years from the date of
    patent grant, utility and plant patents filed after June 8, 1995
    now have a patent term of up to twenty years from the date of
    filing of the earliest related patent application. Utility and
    plant patents which were applied for on or before June 8, 1995, and
    which were or will be in force on June 8, 1995, now have a
    patent term of seventeen years from the date of patent grant or
    twenty years from the date of filing of the earliest related
    patent application, whichever is longer.  Utility patents are
    subject to the payment of periodic maintenance fees to keep the
    patent in force. Patent terms can be extended under some specific
    circumstances.  See the U.S. Code Title 35 - Patents for a full
    description of patent laws.

    ------------------
    Questions regarding this web page should be directed to:
    (address as of 10/2013)
                 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
                 Electronic Information Products Division
                 Patent Technology Monitoring Team (PTMT)
                 P.O. Box 1450
                 Alexandria, VA 22313-1450

                 tel (571) 272-5600
                 FAX (571) 273-0110
                 email oeip@uspto.gov

    _______________________________________________________________________________________
    SOURCE:   U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
              Electronic Information Products Division, Patent Technology Monitoring Team (03 October 2013)

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