Patents: 10 things engineers should know

摘要

1 What is a patent? Simply put, it's an agreement under which the federal government grants you a time-limited monopoly for your invention. It is a common misconception that a patent gives the inventor the right to practice his or her own invention. Not so. A patent gives the patent owner the right to prevent others from practicing the patented invention. To qualify to receive a patent, an invention must be "novel" (a new device or process that has not existed previously), "non-obvious" (not something that anyone could easily figure out on his own), and "useful" (it has some practical application).