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Patent Information from the USPTO

This section contains patent information from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). InventHelp® does not give any legal advice on patents, but we do offer low-cost invention patent services by referring clients to an independent patent attorney or agent.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The role of the Patent and Trademark Office is to grant patents for the protection of inventions and to register trademarks. It serves the interest of inventors and businesses with respect to their inventions and corporate products, and service identifications. It also advises and assists the bureaus and offices of the Department of Commerce and other agencies of the Government in matters involving "intellectual property" such as patents, trademarks and semiconductor mask works.

• Begin an Inventor's Log or Journal
A record of your ideas and work will help you develop your invention and protect it when completed. Using a bound notebook, make notes each day about the things you do and learn while working on your invention...

• U.S. Patent History
On March 6, 1646, Joseph Jenkes received the first mechanical patent in North America. Issued by the General Court of Massachusetts, it protected his mill for manufacturing scythes. That was the prelude to the U.S. Patent System which has helped give birth to major industries that have transformed the way we live...

• What are Patent, Trademarks, Servicemarks, and Copyrights?
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Generally the term of a new patent is 20 years...

• Application for Patents
Here you will find patent information about provisional and non-provisional applications for a patent, as well as the examination of applications in proceeding...

• Patent Amendments & Appeals; Time For Reply & Abandonment; Interferences; Allowance & Issue of Patents; Patent Fees
The patent applicant may amend before or after the first examination and action as specified in the rules, or when and as specifically required by the examiner...

• Correction of Patents; Assignments & Licenses; Patent Infringement; Design Patents; Treaties & Foreign Patents
Once the patent is granted, it is outside the jurisdiction of the USPTO except in a few respects. The Office may issue without charge a certificate correcting a clerical error it has made in a patent when the printed patent does not correspond to the record in the Office...