Preface
This brief note is not legal advice and is for educational purposes only. It does not discuss foreign jurisdictions which may have different rules.
Discussion
Patent term refers to the period of time your patent is exclusively yours. That is, after the patent term it becomes dedicated to the public and can be used without restriction or owing any fees or licensing requirements.
There are different terms† for the different patents.
- Provisional patent application – This is not really a patent and it does not mature into a patent so, there is no patent term for a provisional. It can however affect the term of a patent if its filing date is claimed on the non-provisional application. A provisional application expires on the 1 year anniversary of its filing. There are no maintenance fees.
- Utility patent (aka non-provisional patent) – 20 years from the filing date excluding any additional time granted because of the USPTO delay in examination. Any added such time is called patent term extension and should be listed on the first page of the issued patent. (This area can get complicated fast, see 35 U.S.C. § 154.) Maintenance fees are due to keep the patent alive.
- Design patent – 15 years from the date of grant (if filed on or after May 13, 2015). If the design patent was filed before May 13, 2015, then 14 years. See 35 U.S.C. § 173. A design patent has no maintenance fees.
- Plant patent – 20 years from the filing date. (See 35 U.S.C. § 161). A plant patent has no maintenance fees.
† If your patent is not the parent patent then the term can be shorter. For example, if you filed a terminal disclaimer for a sibling patent then the patent term of the sibling likely will not extend beyond the parent.
Conclusion
Your rights to your patent have an expiration date after which the public is free to use it. Check with your attorney for details.
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