What is a Patent?
What is a Trademark?
Patent and trademarks are forms of intellectual property and exist to provide legal protection to
their owners.
What is a patent?
A Patent is a grant of property right by the government to the inventor ‘to exclude others from
making, using, or selling the invention’. Patents are granted for a term of 17 years (14 years for
design patents) which may be extended only by a special act of Congress (except for certain
pharmaceutical patents). After expiration of the term, the patentee loses right to the invention.
From “General Information,” U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
What is a trademark?
A Trademark is either a word, phrase, symbol or design, or combination of words, phrases,
symbols or designs, which identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods or services of one
party from those of others. A service mark is the same as a Trademark except that it identifies and
distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product.
From “Basic Facts about Registering a Trademark,” U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
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