Changes

There are three types of patents:

There are three types of patents:

* [[Utility patent]]s may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof - on June 19, 2018 the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office issued its 10 millionth patent;<ref>https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/events/ten-million-patents-event-smithsonian-national-museum-american-history</ref>

* [[Utility patent]]s may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof - on June 19, 2018, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office issued its 10 millionth patent;<ref>https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/events/ten-million-patents-event-smithsonian-national-museum-american-history</ref>

* [[Design patent]]s may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; and

* [[Design patent]]s may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; and

In the [[United States]], the term of a utility patent (filed after 1995) is 20 years from the earliest non-provisional U.S. filing date of which the patent application claims the benefit, although that term may be adjusted for excessive delays on the part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (not those on the part of the applicant).<ref>[http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/documents/appxl_35_U_S_C_154.htm#usc35s154 35 U.S.C. § 154]</ref>

In the [[United States]], the term of a utility patent (filed after 1995) is 20 years from the earliest non-provisional U.S. filing date of which the patent application claims the benefit, although that term may be adjusted for excessive delays on the part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (not those on the part of the applicant).<ref>[http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/documents/appxl_35_U_S_C_154.htm#usc35s154 35 U.S.C. § 154]</ref>

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.

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.

==Controversy==

==Controversy==