A patent is a right, conferred by a government, to the exclusive right to the use of an invention. It lasts for a limited period of time, during which anyone who wants to use the or invention must obtain from the patent holder the right to do so. This usually involves a payment of money.
The purpose of a patent is to encourage to make inventions or improve existing processes because they can make money from licensing the right to the patent, or from using the patent to make something that no one else can make.
Another purpose is to improve the collection of available information to the public, in the form of patents, so that everyone can see what everyone else has already patented and learn how to do the patented invention. This enables them to invent improvements and new combinations of existing inventions, which may be, in turn, patentable.
Patents are issued by the Federal Government. They give the person who invented something the right to be the exclusive (only) person allowed to make it. There are many conditions surrounding what can be patented.
A patent gives an inventor a temporary monopoly on the invention, as an opportunity to recoup the investment made in its development. About a quarter of a million US patents are awarded by the United States Patent and Trademark Office each year.
Patents are grants allowed by the government for the specific use of an invention. The creator of the invention is given the permission to be the only one to use the invention for a particular time period. A patent does not mean that the creator necessarily can sell or use the invention, but it is meant to prohibit others from using it.
99,220, including utility patents, plant patents, design patents, and reissues.
The USPTO granted a total of 247,727 patents from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011, including Reissue Patents, Plant Patents, Design Patents, and Utility Patents.
The US Patent Office issued 99,200 total patents from 1 January 1990 to 31 December 1990, including 9 reissue patents, 6 plant patents, 194 design patents, and 98,991 utility patents.
43 patents
Charles Kettering had 104 patents.
The website Free Patents Online provides descriptions of patents, with downloadable PDFs of their schematics. Alternatively, the website Patents provides text descriptions but no images.
As of 2010, General Electric (GE) has 1,222 patents. Aside from this, they have filed 37, 268 patents in the US.
What Companies hold MEMS patents
As with other property rights, patents can be sold or licensed
Spyderco has 54 patents and 36 trademarks.
No; Twitter notably has not filed for any patents.
As with other property rights, patents can be sold or licensed