Patent

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A patent is an intellectual property right, granted by a country’s government as a territorial right for a limited period. As long as renewal fees are paid every year, a UK patent has a life of 20 years and provides protection throughout the UK, but no further.

Patent rights make it illegal for anyone except the owner or someone with the owner’s permission to make, use, import or sell the invention in the country where the patent was granted.

Other manufacturers may have to pay license fees or royalties to use the idea.

Patents generally cover products or processes that contain ‘new’ functional or technical aspects. They are concerned with how things work, how they are made or what they are made of. Patents cover many different things such as electronics, medicines, agriculture and transport – anything in fact from a small detail in an electric switch to an entire power station.

There is no legal requirement for a product to be marked although it could help stop others accidentally infringing your patent rights. The terms ‘patent pending’ and ‘patent applied for’ are sometimes marked on products by manufacturers to show that a patent has been applied for. It’s there to warn potential competitors that if a patent is granted and their product infringes the patent rights, the manufacturer will have the right to stop them making, using or selling the product.