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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 326
Master Member
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Hi Russ, I'm certainly no patent lawyer. But this is what I've found. Typical patent term is 20 years from what I'm seeing. Then again, not all patented materials/items are "typical." Here is a website that has a good explanation on Pharma-type patents and patent extensions. http://www.fda.gov/cder/about/smallbiz/patent_term.htmAnd from the US Patent and Trademark Office Website: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/index.html#whatpat Nature of Patent and Patent Rights . . . The patent is issued in the name of the United States under the seal of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and is either signed by the Director of the USPTO or is electronically written thereon and attested by an Office official. The patent contains a grant to the patentee, and a printed copy of the specification and drawing is annexed to the patent and forms a part of it. The grant confers “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States” and its territories and possessions for which the term of the patent shall be generally 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, if the application contains a specific reference to an earlier filed application under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121 or 365(c), from the date of the earliest such application was filed, and subject to the payment of maintenance fees as provided by law. The term of the patent shall be generally 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, if the application contains a specific reference to an earlier filed application under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121 or 365(c), from the date of the earliest such application was filed, and subject to the payment of maintenance fees as provided by law. A maintenance fee is due 3 1/2, 7 1/2 and 11 1/2 years after the original grant for all patents issuing from the applications filed on and after December 12, 1980. The maintenance fee must be paid at the stipulated times to maintain the patent in force. After the patent has expired anyone may make, use, offer for sale, or sell or import the invention without permission of the patentee, provided that matter covered by other unexpired patents is not used. The terms may be extended for certain pharmaceuticals and for certain circumstances as provided by law. ******** ALso from the US Patent website a link to Laws and Regulations: http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/legis.htmSomedaySoon
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