To Patent or Not to Patent?

First, evaluate whether or not you need one. Then check for existing patent landmines during the early stages of product development

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By Vivek Wadhwa

February 5, 2007 at 11:09 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Intellectual property law is notoriously confusing. That's because there are three main types of intellectual property protection and a swirl of myths surrounding each (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/11/05, (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/11/05, "Whose Idea Is It Anyway?"). The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) () offers a good primer on the differences between patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

A patent is the grant of a property right to an inventor by the USPTO—typically for 20 years from the date of application. A patent gives the holder the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention in the U.S. So the idea becomes like a piece of land, and patenting the idea before someone else does is like buying that land.