| | A '''patent''' is a legal document that protects an inventor's exclusivity to his invention. This gives an incentive for inventing useful things, as the inventor can earn fees, also known as royalties, by obtaining a patent and then licensing it to others. The unique [[America]]n patent system is what fueled the greatest increase in wealth in the history of mankind, particularly in the [[United States]] in the decades following the [[Civil War]]. There are several types of patents. | | A '''patent''' is a legal document that protects an inventor's exclusivity to his invention. This gives an incentive for inventing useful things, as the inventor can earn fees, also known as royalties, by obtaining a patent and then licensing it to others. The unique [[America]]n patent system is what fueled the greatest increase in wealth in the history of mankind, particularly in the [[United States]] in the decades following the [[Civil War]]. There are several types of patents. |
| | + | [[Conservative]] [[Phyllis Schlafly]] wrote in favor of patent rights for small inventors as much as she wrote about any other topic. She observed that patents have helped enormously in alleviating the tedium of the work of a homemaker, as in the washing machine, dishwasher, light bulb, refrigerator, and so on. |
| | The patent right is, in the language of the American patent statute, "the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling" the invention in the United States or "importing" the invention into the United States. What is protected is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention. Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.<ref>http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/index.html#patent</ref> | | The patent right is, in the language of the American patent statute, "the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling" the invention in the United States or "importing" the invention into the United States. What is protected is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention. Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.<ref>http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/index.html#patent</ref> |