Royalty Treatment: The Patent Circuit: From Application to Enforcement (IP Protection‪)‬

On the surface, a patent is a fairly simple concept. It protects an invention. However, just as designing, engineering and manufacturing a product is a complex process fraught with potential risks, a patent is much more than simply protection for an invention. The concept behind the US patent system goes all the way back to the original US Constitution ratified in 1787. Even before there was a Bill of Rights and such American concepts as freedom of speech and due process, Congress had the power to "promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." From that Constitutional authority, the US patent system was founded. A patent is a time-limited monopoly granted by the federal government to inventors. A patent encourages innovation by giving a patent owner exclusive rights to his or her invention.