In order to patent an invention the inventor must go through a number of processes. These processes to patent an invention can be complex and difficult. Although most inventors are concerned with the rights patent an invention grant during in-force, the law actually recognizes five "rights" periods in the life of invention patents. These five periods when you patent an invention are:

1. Invention conceived but not yet documented. This is the phase when you patent an invention where an inventor conceives an invention, but has not yet made any written, signed, dated, and witnessed record of it. In this patent an invention phase the inventor has no rights whatsoever.
2. Invention documented but patent application not yet filed. After making a proper, signed, dated, and witnessed documentation when an inventor patent an invention he or she has valuable rights against any inventor who later conceives the same invention and applies for a patent. This phase gives the inventors when they patent an invention the legal right to sue and recover damages against anyone who immorally learns of the invention (for example, through industrial spying).
3. Patent pending (patent application filed but not yet issued). When you apply to patent an invention including the one-year period after a provisional patent application is filed, the inventor can sue and recover damages against anyone who uses the invention. Most companies that manufacture a product that is the subject of a pending patent an invention application will mark the product "patent pending" in order to warn potential copiers that if they copy the product, they may have to stop later (and thus scrap all their molds and tooling) if and when a patent issues. 
   Eighteen months after filing, and while the application to patent an invention is pending, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will publish the application to patent an invention unless the applicant files a Nonpublication Request at the time of filing and doesn't file for a patent outside the U.S. If the application to patent an invention is published during the pendency period, an inventor can later obtain royalties from an infringer from the date of publication provided (1) the application later issues as a patent; and (2) the infringer had actual notice of the published application.
4. In-force patent (patent issued but hasn't yet expired). After the patent issues, the owner who patent an invention can bring and maintain a lawsuit for patent infringement against anyone who makes, uses, or sells the invention without permission.
5. Patent expired. After the patent expires, the owner who patent an invention has no further rights, although infringement suits can still be brought for any infringement that occurred during the patent's in-force period, as long as the suit is filed within the time required by law.