Would I need a patent to just simply sell designs to a clothing line?
- Thread starter DKTH
- Start date
The Patent Office grants design patents to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. The patent laws protect the appearance of the article, not its function (for this reason, seek design patent protection only when the ornamental features of your invention are unique and commercially valuable).
The Patent Laws permit the Patent Office to award patents only to the true inventor or inventors. If you are an investor, you cannot file a patent application as the inventor unless you are also the inventor or co-inventor of the invention (as the drafter of the patent application defined the invention it in at least one claim of the patent application). In addition, you cannot get a patent on a mere idea, concept, or suggestion. Therefore, even if you, as an investor, provide the basic idea or identify the need which the invention is to fill, and subsequently fund the development of the invention by others, the Patent Laws do not entitle you to be named as an inventor. You, the investor, however, may retain full ownership of the patent rights through an assignment, and thus benefit from the future income of the patent to the exclusion of the true inventors.
I hope this was helpful
The Patent Laws permit the Patent Office to award patents only to the true inventor or inventors. If you are an investor, you cannot file a patent application as the inventor unless you are also the inventor or co-inventor of the invention (as the drafter of the patent application defined the invention it in at least one claim of the patent application). In addition, you cannot get a patent on a mere idea, concept, or suggestion. Therefore, even if you, as an investor, provide the basic idea or identify the need which the invention is to fill, and subsequently fund the development of the invention by others, the Patent Laws do not entitle you to be named as an inventor. You, the investor, however, may retain full ownership of the patent rights through an assignment, and thus benefit from the future income of the patent to the exclusion of the true inventors.
I hope this was helpful