Intellectual Property and Patent Attorney
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Nationwide
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Generally, the term of protection for a new patent is twenty (20) years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the date an earlier related application was filed, subject to payment of maintenance fees.
Contact an Experienced Patent Lawyer
For advice, guidance, assistance, or representation in patent application matters and patent infringement disputes, contact The McGougan Law Firm to schedule a free initial consultation. The law firm's principal patent lawyer has handled patent issues for clients from throughout the United States and worldwide.
The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute (35 U.S.C. §101) and of the grant itself, “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States.
What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention. Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the USPTO.
There are three types of issuable patents:
1) Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, 35 U.S.C. §101;
2) Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture, 35 U.S.C. §171; and
3) Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant, including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found seedlings, other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state, 35 U.S.C.§161.
Provisional Patent
A provisional application for patent is a U.S. national application for patent filed in the USPTO under 35 U.S.C. §111(b). The provisional application provides the means to establish an early effective filing date in a non-provisional patent application filed under 35 U.S.C. §111(b). It also allows the term "Patent Pending" to be applied to the product, device, or innovation.
A provisional application has a pendency lasting 12 months from the date the provisional application is filed. The 12-month pendency period cannot be extended. Therefore, an applicant who files a provisional application must file a corresponding non-provisional application during the 12-month pendency period of the provisional application in order to benefit from the earlier filing of the provisional application. Otherwise, failure to do so results in abandonment of the provisional application and a loss of the “priority” filing date provided by the provisional application.
Industries
Attorney P. Jeff Martin can represent clients in the following industries in patent-related matters:
- Chemical/Pharmaceutical – Assisting research, technology, and development clients with securing, protecting, and managing intellectual property; licensing; and other business transactions in the chemical and pharmaceutical fields.
- Medical Devices – We provide IP services to clients for biomedical devices, such as drug delivery systems, orthopedic devices, hemostatic agents, and cosmetic enhancement devices, utilized in the practice of medicine or medical treatment.
- Biotechnology – Biotechnological inventions may include microbes, cell lines, tissue generation, antibody production, proteins, nucleic acids, microorganisms and transgenic multi-cellular organisms.
- Communications and Electronics – We provide IP service to clients possessing innovations in E-business, Information Technology, E-Commerce, and the Electronics industry.
- Mechanical, Design, and Consumer Products – We provide patent and other IP-related services to clients who produce a variety of consumer products.
- Internet, Software, and Business Methods – As website and software companies grow, their need to gain property rights over these advances correspondingly grows. We provide IP services to clients in a broad range of software technology.
Avoid Unnecessary Delays in the Patent Application Process
For intellectual property inquiries and matters, please call toll free (888) 908-4332 or email Attorney P. Jeff Martin at The McGougan Law Firm directly. Schedule a complimentary, preliminary consultation regarding patent searches, patent applications, patent pendency, or patent infringement protection.
