How to Invent and Protect Your Invention: A Guide to Patents for Scientists and Engineers

1.2 WHY SHOULD YOU FILE A PATENT?

A patent gives an inventor control over the use of his invention. The owner of the patent has the right to exclude others from profiting from the invention. In other words, the patent is a negative right, a right to stop others from making, selling, using, or importing a product or service that is based on the invention. In contrast, a positive right gives one the affirmative ability to take an action; for example, patent holders have the positive right to sue those that infringe their patents. It is important to understand that the granting of a patent does not give the patent holder the right to make, use, sell, or import the thing he invented, nor does it guarantee that the inventor is free and clear to do those things. A patent holder may be blocked from making products from his invention because the invention is based in part on another's patent (often referred to as a blocking or dominating patent) that she does not have authorization to make or use. In addition, a product may be limited by laws that prohibit the manufacture or use of such a product (certain weapons or illegal drugs) or by administrative regulations that may limit how an invention can be used, such as a new pharmaceutical that is limited in its uses by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Although the patent confers only an exclusionary right, it can be a formidable weapon against an intruder (infringer) who invades the patent holder's domain. A patent gives the inventor ...