A patent for an invention is the legal grant of a property right to the inventor. Patents are issued domestically by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and by similar foreign government offices. In the United States, patents are valid for 20 years from the filing date of the application. U.S. patents are valid only within the U.S., U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions. U.S. Patents grant “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States.

In the U.S., a patent is granted to the actual or true inventor, not to the first person to file an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. U.S. Patent Law states that any person who "invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent." "Process" is defined by law as a process, act or method, and usually refers to technical or industrial processes. "Machine" is self-explanatory. "Manufacture" refers to manufactured items. "Composition of matter" pertains to chemical compounds and compositions. "Useful" in this context refers to the condition that the invention/improvement has a useful purpose and functions in line with its intended purpose.

Some inventions are patentable. A researcher or research team may have an “invention” if the research activity results in:

• A solution for a long-standing problem that others have attempted without success;
• Identification of initially unexpected benefits or uses of the work;
• An approach, or aspects of an approach, is contrary to that taught by the published literature;
• An innovation that is not taught by individual, or combinations of, prior publications; or
• The researcher or research team went through significant trial and error before achieving the innovation

Potential inventions need to be reported to the OIPL to determine if the invention is patentable and to ensure that the University of Alaska complies with obligations to the research sponsor and federal funding guidelines for dissemination of inventive works created with federal funding.

Types of patents
What makes an invention patentable?
How can I protect my invention before a patent application is filed?
Invention disclosure
Lab notebooks
Bayh-Doyle Act