Intellectual Property

According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Constitution of the United States allows Congress to have the power to enact laws relating to patents. They do this in Article I, section 8, which reads "Congress shall have power . . . to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."

The first patent law was enacted in 1790. The patent laws underwent a general revision which was enacted July 19, 1952, and which came into effect January 1, 1953. It is codified in Title 35, United States Code. Additionally, on November 29, 1999, Congress enacted the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 (AIPA), which further revised the patent laws. See Public Law 106-113, 113 Stat. 1501 (1999).
The patent law specifies the subject matter for which a patent may be obtained and the conditions for patentability. The law establishes the United States Patent and Trademark Office to administer the law relating to the granting of patents and contains various other provisions relating to patents.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office defines a patent as follows: "A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office." Usually, the term of the patent is 20 years from the date of filing. Patents are only applicable in the United States, its territories, or its possessions. Occasionally, patents may be extended beyond the regular 20 years in special circumstances.

As the statute regarding patents states, patents confer “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. The USPTO goes on to clarify that "what is granted 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 USPTO."