A patent is a grant issued by the U.S. Government giving inventors the right to exclude all others from making, using, or selling their inventions within the United States, its territories, and possessions. In order to know how to obtain a patent it is important to know that there are three kinds of patents:

1. Utility patents, granted to the inventor or discoverer of any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof;
2. Plant patents, granted on any distinct and new variety of asexually reproduced plant; and
3. Design patents, granted on any new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.

To know how to obtain a patent the utility and plant patents are granted for a term which begins on the date of the grant and ends 20 years from the date the patent application was first filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees; design patents are granted for a term of 14 years from the date of the grant.

Patents may be extended only by special act of Congress, except for some pharmaceutical patents whose terms may be extended to make up for time lost due to Government-required testing. If you want to know how to obtain a patent you should make a search of patents previously granted to make sure that your idea has not already been patented.

The process on how to obtain a patent can be complex, and the Patent and Trademark Office cannot assist in the preparation of application papers. Applicants are often advised to engage the services of a patent attorney or agent on how to obtain a patent on invention. One thing to remember on how to obtain a patent is that the basic fee for filing an application for patent ranges from $160 to $770, depending on the type of patent application being filed and whether or not the applicant is entitled to status as a small entity (independent inventor, small business concern, or non-profit organization). Another factor on how to obtain a patent is that the issue fees range from $220 to $1,290. Maintenance fees are due at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years from the date the patent is granted. An individual inventor can expect to pay a minimum of $4,000 for a utility patent.

Applications are assigned to examiners who are experts in how to obtain a patent and its various fields of technology. The invention must be new, useful, and unobvious to those in that particular field of study. The procedure on how to obtain a patent normally takes about 19 months.