by Kathleen Lynch | May 5, 2026 | Design Patent, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Intellectual Property, Inventor, IP, Patent, Plant Patent, Protection, Small Business, Start Up, Start Up Considerations, US Patent Office, Utility
Recently a new client came to me regarding whether his invention was patentable. I thought about this post and thought I’d repost it.
This is the first in a series of informational posts designed to demystify the core pillars of intellectual property law. Today, we focus on the patent: what it actually is and the specific protections it offers once granted by the government.
In the United States, there are three primary types of patents: Utility, Design, and Plant. Each serves a different purpose and offers a different window of protection.
1. Design Patents
Design patents protect the new, original, and ornamental aspects of a functional item. They don’t cover how a product works, but rather how it looks.
- Examples: The iconic shape of an iPhone® or the sleek curves of a Corvette® sports car.
- Term: Under current law, design patents have a life of 15 years from the date the patent is granted (for applications filed on or after May 13, 2015).
2. Plant Patents
A plant patent is a specialized grant for anyone who has invented or discovered—and asexually reproduced—a distinct and new variety of plant.
- Requirement: The variety must be “asexually reproduced,” meaning it is grown from something other than a seed (like a cutting or grafting).
- Term: Protection extends 20 years from the date of filing.
3. Utility Patents
Utility patents are the most common type and protect the “utility” or function of an invention. These cover:
- Articles of manufacture (physical products)
- Methods of manufacture (industrial processes)
- Compositions of matter (chemical formulas or pharmaceuticals)
- Business methods (often seen in the software and fintech sectors)
A Note on Software & Business Methods: This last category—business methods—remains a highly active area of legal debate in 2026. While they are still patentable, recent court decisions like Constellation Designs v. LG have reinforced that these patents must describe a specific technological solution rather than just a general “abstract idea.”
Requirements and Maintenance
To qualify for a utility patent, an invention must meet three strict criteria: it must be useful, novel (new), and non-obvious to someone skilled in that specific field.
A utility patent generally lasts for 20 years from the date of filing. However, the protection isn’t “set it and forget it.” To keep a utility patent active, you must pay maintenance fees to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) at three critical intervals:+1
- 3.5 years after issuance
- 7.5 years after issuance
- 11.5 years after issuance
Failure to pay these fees (which have seen significant updates as of 2025/2026) will result in the patent expiring early and your invention falling into the public domain.
Stay Ahead of the Game
Protecting your innovative developments is a critical component of any successful organization. Deciding when to file—and which type of patent best fits your business goals—is a decision that shouldn’t be made alone.
The Law Office of Kathleen Lynch PLLC is here to help you navigate these complexities and ensure your IP strategy keeps you ahead of the competition.
Ready to protect your ideas? Your first consultation is free. Email us: kl****@*****aw.com
by Kathleen Lynch | Jan 29, 2015 | Entrepreneurship, Patent Prosecution, Start Up Considerations, Trademark Service Mark
Intellectual property is the life blood of many small businesses and entrepreneurial enterprises. Knowing how and what may need protection could mean the difference between success and failure. I set forth below three basic things every entrepreneur and business person should do to protect the intellectual property inherent in any organization.
- Identify your intellectual property
- Before you can protect your intellectual property assets, you need to understand what they are. Intellectual property is a bundle of legal rights. These consist essentially of patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Patents are directed primarily to objects of manufacture (things), methods of making or doing something, designs (ornamental aspects of a thing), compositions of matter and plants. If you make devices or compositions of matter, you will likely want to determine whether your device, composition, or methodologies associated with your business may be subject to patent protection. If you make an object, you may also want to consider whether there are any ornamental aspects of your object that may be new and subject to design patent protection.
- If you use trademarks, service marks or logos in connection with the sale of your goods or services, you may want to register those marks or logos nationally or internationally. If your business involves training or educational services, any materials used may be subject to copyright protection. If your business has been successful by using particular strategies or processes that have given it a competitive edge over your competition, you may want to properly identify those strategies as trade secrets. Some methodologies used in manufacturing may be better suited to trade secret protection rather than patent protection.
- Determine whether your intellectual property can be protected
- Once you have identified what you believe to be your intellectual property, you need to determine whether it is protectable under current laws. If you believe your new widget is patentable, a patentability search and assessment is a logical next step. A patentability search and assessment will provide you with the information you need to determine whether there is any meaningful patent protection available to you. This applies to objects, as well as methods, compositions of matter, and designs. A proper patentability search will search all relevant patent records and provide you with the most pertinent documentation of the state of the relevant art. A patent professional can assist with interpreting the search results to determine the scope of patent protection likely available to your invention.
- Similarly, with a trademark or logo, an availability search and assessment is a prudent next step. This involves searching relevant records to provide you with current uses of the same or similar marks or logos. From this information, you can determine whether to proceed with a trademark or service mark registration. A trademark professional can help you make that determination.
- Protect What Intellectual Property You Can
- Once you have identified and determined what rights are available to you, you can proceed with protecting your intellectual property to maximize your competitive advantage. Patentable aspects of any objects, methods, compositions or designs should be protected. Marks or logos available for use and registration should be the subject of US or international trademark or service mark applications.
- Copyrighted materials should be marked with the “©” or “Copyright” followed by the year(s) in which the material was created and name of the owner. Trade secrets, properly identified, should be protected through a series of procedures identified by your organization to ensure confidentiality. This may include, by example, limiting access to certain information, marking documents as “confidential”, ensuring all employees understand their obligations to maintain secrecy of proprietary information, executing confidentiality agreements with third parties where proprietary information may be exchanged.
Protecting your innovative developments is critical to any organization. Having the right person to help you make that decision is important. The Law Office of Kathleen Lynch PLLC is designed to help businesses such as yours keep ahead of the game. The first telephone consultation is free. Email us at kl****@*****aw.com.
by Kathleen Lynch | Sep 23, 2014 | Design Patent, Patent
This is the first in a series of basic info posts on the basics of intellectual property law. In particular, I’d like to focus on what is a patent and what kind of protection does it provide if you are able to obtain a granted patent.
To start, there are 3 types of patents: utility, design and plant. Design patents cover new and ornamental aspects of items of manufacture. An iPhone® smart phone or a Corvette® sports car are great examples of design patents. These have a life of 14 years from the date the patent is granted.
Plant patents are a particular type of patent that are directed to anyone who has invented or discovered and asexually reproduced a distinct and new variety of plant. Plant patent protection extends 20 years from the date of filing.
Utility patents are known to most people and cover articles of manufacture, methods of manufacture, compositions of matter, and business methods, typically used in the software and banking sectors. This last category of patents is presently in dispute but is not the subject of this article.
A utility patent must be useful, novel and nonobvious. A utility patent has a life of 20 years from the date of filing. However, once a patent is granted, maintenance fees must be paid to the US Patent and Trademark Office before 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 years after issue, or the patent will expire.
Protecting your innovative developments is critical to any organization. Having the right person to help you make that decision is important. The Law Office of Kathleen Lynch PLLC is designed to help businesses such as yours keep ahead of the game. The first telephone consultation is free. Email us at kl****@*****aw.com.
