Larson & Larson

JANUARY 10, 2021

Patents were designed to protect inventions and ideas that are new and non-obvious. Ultimately, a patent is a form of intellectual property protection that gives the creator exclusive rights to legally market, sell, manufacture, and profit from the invention. With a patent, an inventor can exclude competition by enforcing the patent, license the invention to other parties for royalty payments, sue for damages in the case of infringement, and sell the invention to a third party.

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Inventor Patent Design Patent Invention 52

Larson & Larson

JANUARY 10, 2021

Historically, the first person to invent something had the patent rights to the invention, regardless of when they filed their patent application. However, with the America Invents Act which went into effect in 2013, the United States’ patent system has switched to a “first-to-file” system. This means that the first person to file a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) claims priority, or ownership, over the invention.

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