Patent

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A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or his assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an invention.

The procedure for granting patents, the requirements placed on the patentee and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries according to national laws and international agreements. Typically, however, a patent application must include one or more claims defining the invention which must be new, inventive, and useful or industrially applicable. In many countries, certain subject areas are excluded from patents, such as business methods and mental acts. The exclusive right granted to a patentee in most countries is the right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or distributing the patented invention without permission.

Under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, patents should be available in WTO member states for any inventions, in all fields of technology, and the term of protection available should be minimum twenty years. Different types of patents may have varying patent terms (i.e., durations).

For more information about Patent, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with patent

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Patent: Nintendo's Wii Football Controller

Patent: Nintendo's Wii Football Controller

Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets

created Sep 02, 2009 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (4) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Nintendo has come up with yet another idea for an accessory to add to its list of Wii peripherals. This time it's a soft football-shaped controller that is said to simulate the feel and touch ...


Study finds patent systems may discourage innovation

Study finds patent systems may discourage innovation

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Jul 27, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (19) | comments 37

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study challenges the traditional view that patents foster innovation, suggesting instead that they may hinder technological progress, economic activity and societal wealth. These results ...


Microsoft Gets Patent for Patently Offensive Audio Content

Microsoft Gets Patent for Patently Offensive Audio Content

Technology / Internet

created Oct 28, 2008 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (24) | comments 19

(PhysOrg.com) -- Microsoft recently obtained a patent designed to create an Automatic Censorship of Audio Data For Broadcast . The invention is intended to act as a filter for live broadcasts where it is impracticable to delete or make inaudible certai ...


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Apple countersues Nokia over phone patents

Technology / Business

created Dec 11, 2009 | popularity 2 / 5 (5) | comments 2

(AP) -- Apple Inc. is suing cell phone maker Nokia Corp. for patent infringement, a countermove to Nokia's earlier suit against technologies used in Apple's iPhone.


Patenting melon juice? Not if India gets its way...

Technology / Business

created Dec 11, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0

Fed up with foreign companies patenting traditional medicine from India, the country's top scientific body is compiling a giant database of everything from yoga positions to medicinal fruit juice.


Software cos. eye key patent case in Supreme Court (AP)

Software cos. eye key patent case in Supreme Court

Technology / Business

created Nov 08, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 2

(AP) -- With the technology industry looking on, the Supreme Court on Monday will explore what types of inventions should be eligible for a patent in a pivotal case that could undermine such legal protections ...


Eolas Technologies Inc.

Amazon, Apple, Google, Yahoo! targeted in patent case

Technology / Business

created Oct 06, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (6) | comments 7

A US technology company which won a patent case against software giant Microsoft filed suit on Tuesday against nearly two dozen other high-profile firms accusing them of violating the same patent.


Vonage makes free international calls standard

Technology / Telecom

created Aug 19, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(AP) -- Unlimited domestic phone calls are nearly standard feature for landline plans these days. Now, Vonage Holdings Corp., which helped pioneer that feature with its Internet phone service, is expanding it to most international ...


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Microsoft asks court to hold off on Word ban

Technology / Business

created Aug 19, 2009 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (5) | comments 1

(AP) -- Microsoft Corp. is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to allow it to keep selling Word software as it fights an unfavorable patent ruling.


Microsoft was accused by i4i of infringing on a 1998 XML patent in its Word 2003 and Word 2007 programs

Microsoft to appeal Word patent ruling

Technology / Software

created Aug 12, 2009 | popularity 1.7 / 5 (6) | comments 5

Microsoft said Wednesday it plans to appeal a ruling by a Texas judge that would ban the US software giant from selling its popular Word program in the United States.


China searches for high-tech leap forward

Technology / Hi Tech

created Aug 09, 2009 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (5) | comments 2

The manicured lawns and carefully sculpted buildings of Huawei's headquarters are a far cry from the sweatshop image of southern China's factory belt.


Patenting human genes thwarts research, scientists say

Medicine & Health / Other

created Jun 04, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 3

Rapid advances in biology and genetics are raising fresh concerns about the spreading practice of patenting human genes.


A jury in the US state of Texas ordered US computer software giant Microsoft to pay 200 million dollars

Microsoft ordered to pay $200 mln in patent case

Technology / Business

created May 20, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 3

A jury in the US state of Texas ordered US computer software giant Microsoft on Wednesday to pay 200 million dollars to a Canadian company for patent infringement.


Lessons from Schon -- the worst physics fraudster?

Physics / General Physics

created May 05, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (12) | comments 5

How did a 31-year-old physicist working at Bell Labs in New Jersey, US, get away with possibly the worst case of physics research fraud known? From claims to have made the world's first organic electrical laser to the fictional ...


People explore the features of the new 17-inch MacBook Pro

Taiwan firm accuses Apple of patent infringement

Technology / Business

created Apr 09, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Taiwan's Elan Microelectronics Corp. has filed suit against Apple for allegedly infringing two of its patents for touchscreen technology.