Utility Patent

A “utility patent” is a patent issued for a new and/or improved process, product, device, chemical, etc. A utility patent gives the patentholder exclusive commercial rights to their invention, which means no one else can use it to make money or other new inventions without the patentholder’s say-so.

But not only does our invention have to be new and/or an improvement of something that already exists...it has to be useful. For example, if we invent a machine that picks up dog hair from one spot on our carpet and deposits it two inches to the left, that’s not actually all that useful of a creation. Probably won’t be approved for a utility patent.

That’s right: we have to get approved. We can’t just walk into the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with our fur-regurgitating carpet machine, hold out our hand, and get a utility patent and a high-five. We have to apply. And the application process is long, arduous, intensive, and, in many cases, expensive. Like..."thousands of dollars" expensive. We’ll probably have to hire a lawyer, and maybe a professional patent application writer and process illustrator. (Seriously.) And then, after we go through that whole process, if we get approved, the patent itself only lasts for up to 20 years, during which time we have to pay maintenance fees on it. After that, our precious patented fur regurgitation technology becomes public domain, and then any fool out there can come in and try to replicate or improve our design using our own invention.