Patent Attorney and Founder
The process of securing a patent can be complex, with many deadlines, legal requirements, and other complex issues. Once you’ve reached the finish line and have successfully secured your patent, you may wonder: how long are patents good for? Patents provide you with certain rights to your invention, and it is important to know how long those rights last and what you can do to maintain them.
Patent Terms Based on the Type of Patent
There are three primary types of patents, and each one can protect your invention for a specific period of time. These time limits are as follows:
- Utility Patents: These expire 20 years from the date the non-provisional utility patent application is filed. Utility patents also have additional maintenance requirements. Utility patents apply to innovations of machines, processes, articles, and similar items.
- Design Patents: These expire 15 years from the date the patent is issued. Design patents apply to the ornamental and aesthetic appearance of a product.
- Plant Patents: These expire 20 years from the date the non-provisional plant patent application is filed. Plant patents apply to new asexually reproduced plant varieties and the products of that plant.
Both plant and utility patents can have provisional or non-provisional patent applications; however, a provisional patent application establishes a filing date that can be claimed on a non-provisional patent application later. The provisional application is not the filing date that begins the 20-year expiration date.
In some cases, adjustments can be made to extend the expiration of a patent. This is more common with utility patents and doesn’t happen as often for design patents. A skilled patent attorney can help you review your options for extensions, adjustments, or other methods to protect your invention.
Utility Patent Maintenance Fees
Utility patents are the most commonly applied-for patent and the most costly. Fees for utility patents, including application, examination, and more, are typically the highest.
Utility patents also have maintenance fees, which design and plant patents don’t require. These maintenance fees are required at set points throughout the patent’s lifespan. If you fail to pay these fees on time, your patent may expire. You have a period of six months after the required payments when you can pay the maintenance fee plus a surcharge to prevent expiration. If you don’t, the patent on your invention will expire.
These maintenance fees are required at the following periods for the following USPTO fees:
- Three and a half years: $400 to $2,000
- Seven and a half years: $752 to $3,760
- Eleven and a half years: $1,540 to $7,700
- Surcharge for late payment up to six months late: $100 to $500
Video Transcript:
Hello, everyone! My name is J.D. Houvener, a USPTO patent attorney, and I’m the managing partner and CEO at Bold Patents Law Firm.
Today, I’ll be talking about how long patent rights last, when they expire, and how to extend the life of your patent with a little secret of mine – with continuations. So, today, I’ll be sharing with you and helping you understand how long patents are good for. If you stick around to the end, I’ll be sharing that secret of how to extend patents beyond that 20 years.
In the details below, you’ll see a description of a bit of a timeline to jump forward in the video to a certain spot that you want to move toward.
- Utility Patents
So, first up, utility patents. What is a utility patent? Let’s talk about that really quick. Utility patents generate productivity. These are inventions that give you value, functional benefit.
If you think about the iPhone, okay, it’s got utility in terms of helping you be more efficient. It’s helping us conduct business or talk to people around the world using a cellular device that’s in a certain form and function. It’s giving you huge benefits and utility.
- Design Patents
On the other side, a design just protects what it looks like, just the ornamentation, the aesthetic appeal of that invention, not what it does. Okay, and for most valuable inventions, you need both.
Let’s go back to the iPhone, which I love coming back to. The shape, the fact that it has a button position at the bottom right, that’s a design of the overall phone. That’s a separate protection than the utility patent that resides in what it does, right? The buttons you push, apps, all the functionality of the system. The design is the actual three-dimensional product that you’re holding. That’s the difference.
- Utility Patent Expiration
So, let’s go back to utility patents. Okay, the functional benefit. Let’s think about those patents. They are awarded with 20 years of monopoly.
Monopoly is a powerful word, but it’s true, going way back to the Constitution. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 says that for inventors that have new and useful inventions, the government will give you 20 years of limited protection, meaning the government will go to bat for you and help you in federal court, make sure that you are the only one able to make use, sell, or import your invention in the US of A. That’s a big deal.
So, back in the Constitution, those founding fathers thought it was that important to incentivize inventors to come out of the Woodworks and share their brains with the rest of us. That’s the whole system. That’s why utility patents are given that extra five years because we think that there needs to be that full explanation, that bigger reward for telling us how you built it, right? How we’re supposed to make this invention.
- Design Patent Expiration
Design patents don’t get too much less than 15 years is a good chunk of time. Don’t get me wrong, but those are just more limited. The actual disclosure in a design patent is just a drawing. It’s a very simple clause. It says, “I claim the drawings as shown below.” That’s truly all the design patents say in words. It’s all about the drawings.
- How Long Patents Last and Extending a Patent’s Protection
Now, you ask how long did they last. As I said, utility is 20 years, design is 15 years. But for interesting cases, for those inventors and business owners that are looking to get beyond that 20-year mark, there are some secrets.
- Trade Secrets
The first secret I’ll share with you is that in utility filings and even design filings, there are certain parts of the invention, this whole invention about how it’s going to market, that are kept as trade secrets.
A classic example is a company, an aerospace company that manufactures airplanes. Huge monolithic wings that are made of carbon fiber and they’re assembled using complex tools and equipment and processes that are patented, you bet. How to create that curvature, how to add those layers in, but they don’t tell you, for example, how long to heat it or at what radius or at what degree specifically you heat it, right?
There’s just enough that’s disclosed in that patent, but trade secret just kept within the company.
- Continuation for Improvements
Now, there is the second way. This is a major way to get additional time for your invention, is to file a continuation application.
When your parent, what’s called a parent application, is filed, you have until that parent gets issued the opportunity to file a continuation or what’s called a continuation in part. Continuation in part is when you’ve got a bell or a whistle or new improvement to your core patent invention, and you want to try to protect that improvement.
That is a wonderful opportunity to file that continuation. That’ll take on a life of its own, and you guessed it, a term of its own, and it will go beyond that twenty years. When the parent expires, the child patent will continue on and get you additional protection for your overall invention.
So, for more about continuations, please read our blog article. Click the link below to get your free book on Bold Ideas: The Inventor’s Guide to Patents and schedule a free 30-minute consult if you’re ready to move forward at boldip.com. Thanks a lot and have a great day.
FAQs
How Long Is a Patent Valid?
A patent issued by the USPTO is valid for 20 years from the date a non-provisional plant or utility patent is filed or 15 years from the date a design patent is granted. In order to have a utility patent for its maximum period of time, you must ensure you pay the maintenance fees at different periods throughout the patent’s lifetime. Failing to do so will mean the patent expires sooner.
Can a Patent Be Renewed After It Expires?
If a patent expires, it cannot be renewed. When a utility patent has reached its 20-year term limit, there may be unique circumstances that allow you to extend patent protections. For example, you may make an improvement to your invention and file for a full continuation or continuation in part for the improvement.
While the initial patent will expire, the continuation patent will protect important improvements and parts of your invention. An attorney can help you determine other options to continue to protect your creation.
Can You Own a Patent Forever?
No, you cannot own a patent forever. A patent has a limited term, and it can expire when it reaches this term. Utility patents can expire sooner if regular maintenance fees are not paid. When a patent expires, you no longer have the right to prevent others from selling, making, or using the patented invention. While there may be options to extend a patent, this is rare.
To determine how to protect your intellectual property after your patent expires, talk with a knowledgeable attorney.
Do All Patents Expire After 10 Years?
No, all patents do not expire after 10 years. A patent will expire after 15 or 20 years, depending on the type. Utility patents with all maintenance fees paid expire after 20 years. If you do not pay your maintenance fees for a utility patent, your patent may expire sooner. Maintenance fees are due at three and a half, seven and a half, and eleven and a half years after a patent is issued.
If you fail to pay these maintenance fees on time, you can still pay them in addition to a surcharge up to six months after the payments are due.
World Class Patent Attorneys at Bold Patents Law Firm
Your patent’s expiration depends on the type of patent, when you filed the application, maintenance requirements, and numerous other factors. Working with an experienced patent attorney can help you understand the intricacies of patent laws and how they apply to your invention.
The dedicated team at Bold Patents can help you bring your bold ideas to fruition and protect your invention for as long as possible. We understand the importance of these patents to your competitive edge, no matter the industry you are in.
Whether you have already filed with the USPTO or are waiting to get started, we can assist you. We can help you prepare your application, follow its progress, and address any issues that come up during the process as quickly as possible.
If you have already secured a patent, we can determine potential methods for retaining your patent through improvements of the invention or other extensions. If there is no way to continue your patent, we can help you look at other methods to protect your rights to your creation. At Bold Patents, we want to support visionaries and progress. Contact our firm today.