AN INITIATIVE OF CRAFT REVIVAL TRUST.  Since 1999
Patent

Intellectual Property Rights

Patent

A patent is defined as “a document which describes an invention which can be manufactured, used, and sold with the authorization of the owner of the patent.  An invention is a solution to a specific technical problem.  A patent document normally contains at least one claim, the full text of the description of the invention, and bibliographic information such as the applicant’s name.  The protection given by a patent is limited in time (generally 15 to 20 years from filing or grant). It is also limited territorially to the country or countries concerned.  A patent is an agreement between an inventor and a country.  The agreement permits the owner to exclude others from making, using or selling the claimed invention.

Article 27(1) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement states that “[…] patents shall be available for any inventions, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology, provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and are capable of industrial application. […] patents shall be available and patent rights enjoyable without discrimination as to the place of invention, the field of technology and whether products are imported or locally produced.