A patent may only be granted for the creation of a new machine, manufacture, and so on--not for the mere idea or suggestion of the new machine
False
Show examples of ideas you have had - especially those that came to fruition with their results. This could be solutions to problems or totally new ideas. If you have won any awards or prizes for innovation then you can list those. If you have had any ideas that resulted in patents (applications or granted patents), then list those.
Selling a mere idea is tough. Ideas by themselves have little value. The value is always in the implementation. This is why the Patent Office doesn't issue patents for mere ideas. Instead it issues patents for how an idea can be implemented. This includes both technology and processes.
As software is difficult to pinpoint to a single person, there are many restrictions on software patents. For example, in the US, no patents are granted for "abstract ideas". However, one can apply for a software patent through the regular patent channels. additionally, if this does not work, one can always copyright their material.
1093! - The largest number held by any one person at that time. Today, there are dozens of companies that get more than that number of patents issued in the USA in a single year. Many of Edison' patents were invalid because he stole the ideas, including all of his so-called "light bulb patents", which were stripped by the patent office in 1893.
Patents are allowed in the United States to encourage innovation and protect the rights of inventors. The purpose of granting patents is to give inventors exclusive rights to their inventions for a certain period of time, incentivizing them to invest time and resources into developing new ideas that benefit society.
Copyright protects original works of authorship, such as books, music, and art, while patents protect inventions and processes. Copyright automatically applies to creative works once they are fixed in a tangible form, while patents require a formal application process and approval. Intellectual property protection for copyrights focuses on the expression of ideas, while patents protect the ideas themselves.
Copyright and patent protection are both forms of intellectual property rights, but they serve different purposes. Copyright protects original works of authorship, such as books, music, and artwork, while patents protect inventions and new processes. Copyright protects the expression of ideas, while patents protect the ideas themselves. In essence, copyright protects creative works, while patents protect inventions.
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.
Patents cover inventions, not products. Some products may have multiple inventions, some patented, some patent pending, some not patentable at all. Some inventions are patented in one country and not in others. It would be impossible to determine which products might include patents, let alone how many of them there might have ever been in even a single country that issues 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.