Patents FAQ

PatentStorm is a private company and we do not issue patents ourselves. We cannot advise you on the process of how to obtain a patent or any related information. Nor can we offer suggestions on how you might obtain this information, other than visiting the US Patent and Trademark Office's website, at www.uspto.gov. You may also check our Resources pages for potential patent agents and attorneys.

Since PatentStorm provides general information about millions of different patents, we are unable to be experts on any single patent and therefore we cannot assist you with your inquiry. Nor can we offer suggestions on how you might obtain this information.

For anything having to do with your patent, including changes, questions, or anything else, please contact the US Patent and Trademark Office. Their website address is www.uspto.gov.

For applications filed on or after June 8, 1995, utility and plant patents are granted for a term which begins with the date of the grant and usually ends 20 years from the date you first applied for the patent subject to the payment of appropriate maintenance fees. Design patents last 14 years from the date you are granted the patent. Note: Patents in force on June 8 and patents issued thereafter on applications filed prior to June 8, 1995 automatically have a term that is the greater of the twenty year term discussed above or seventeen years from the patent grant.

A utility patent may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, compositions of matter, or any new useful improvement thereof. A design patent may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.