ABSTRACT
Obtaining a US patent on an invention requires filing a patent application in the USPTO so that it can be examined. Most patent applications are “utility” patent applications, which cover the kinds of inventions having some functional use (as opposed to a “design” patent application, which covers ornamental aspects of articles of manufacture), and are the kind with which most people are familiar. Utility patent applications fall into five main categories, namely:
Patents that issue from utility patent applications are called, as you might expect, utility patents.
