How US Patents Work: A Comprehensive Practical Guide

60 questions on how US patents work, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Are patent injunctions automatic after a win?
• Can a confidential sale trigger the on-sale bar?
• Can an artificial intelligence be named as an inventor?
• Can a patentee collect royalties after the patent expires?
• Does an employer automatically own inventions made by employees?
• Does a patent give you the right to practice your own invention?
• Do you need a patent attorney, or can you file yourself?
• How are patent damages calculated?
• How can a granted patent be corrected?
• How did KSR v. Teleflex change the obviousness analysis?
• How did Myriad Genetics change biotechnology patenting?
• How did the AIA expand what counts as prior art?
• How does post-grant review differ from inter partes review?
• How does the one-year grace period work, and why is it dangerous to rely on?
• How do international patent treaties help an inventor?
• Is administrative review of issued patents constitutional?
• Is a patent enforceable outside the United States, and who enforces it?
• Is it normal for a patent application to be rejected?
• Is laches a defense to a patent damages claim?
• Is patent infringement a strict liability wrong?
• What are induced and contributory infringement?
• What are patent claims and how do they work?
• What are patent term adjustment and patent term extension?
• What are secondary considerations of nonobviousness?
• What are the judicial exceptions to patent eligibility?
• What are the requirements for getting a utility patent?
• What are the three kinds of U.S. patents?
• What burden does a defendant face to prove a patent invalid in court?
• What did Amgen v. Sanofi decide about enablement?
• What did the America Invents Act change?
• What does a patent's life cycle look like from idea to enforcement?
• What does Section 112 require of a patent's disclosure?
• What happens when a patent has multiple owners?
• What international filing pitfalls should U.S. inventors avoid?
• What is a provisional patent application and what are its limits?
• What is divided infringement of a method claim?
• What is inter partes review?
• What is means-plus-function claiming and why is it a trap?
• What is obviousness-type double patenting?
• What is patent exhaustion, and how far does it reach?
• What is prosecution history estoppel?
• What is the Alice/Mayo two-step test?
• What is the basic bargain behind a patent?
• What is the duty of candor to the USPTO?
• What is the single-reference rule for novelty?
• What is the standard for claim definiteness?
• What is the test for obviousness under Section 103?
• What must a nonprovisional patent application contain?
• What options does an applicant have after a final rejection?
• What separates an eligible software claim from an ineligible one?
• What should a patentee do when someone copies a patented product?
• When can a court enhance patent damages or award fees?
• When do patent maintenance fees come due?
• When is a patent application published, and what does publication buy?
• Where can a patent infringement suit be filed?
• Where does the constitutional power to grant patents come from?
• Who decides what patent claims mean?
• Who examines patents and who enforces them?
• Who is legally an inventor?
• Why does patent marking matter so much for damages?