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In the United States, under current patent law, the term of patent, provided that maintenance fees are paid on time, are: * For applications filed on or after June 8, 1995,〔(2701 Patent Term (R-2); - 2700 Patent Terms and Extensions )〕 the patent term is 20 years from the filing date of the earliest U.S. or international (PCT) application to which priority is claimed (excluding provisional applications). * For applications filed before June 8, 1995 and for patents that were still in force on June 8, 1995, the patent term is either 17 years from the issue date or 20 years from the filing date of the earliest U.S. or international (PCT) application to which priority is claimed (excluding provisional applications), the longer term applying. The patent term in the United States was changed in 1995 to bring U.S. patent law into conformity with the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) as negotiated in the Uruguay Round. As a side effect, it is no longer possible to maintain submarine patents in the U.S., since the patent term now depends on the priority date, not the issue date. Design patents have a shorter term than utility patents. Design patents filed on or after May 13, 2015 have a term of 15 years from issuance.〔("Government Printing Office p. 126, stat. 1532" )〕〔("Price Heneveld" )〕 Design patents filed prior to May 13, 2015 have a term of 14 years from issuance.〔USPTO web site, (''MPEP - 2701 Patent Term (R-2)'' )〕 ==History== The original patent term under the 1790 Patent Act was decided individually for each patent, but "not exceeding fourteen years".〔See 1790 Patent Act.〕 The 1836 Patent Act (5 Stat. 117, 119, 5) provided (in addition to the fourteen-year term) an extension "for the term of seven years from and after the expiration of the first term" in certain circumstances.〔http://ipmall.info/hosted_resources/lipa/patents/Patent_Act_of_1836.pdf〕 In 1861 the seven-year extension was eliminated and the term changed to seventeen years (12 Stat. 246, 249, 16). The signing of the 1994 Uruguay Round Agreements Act〔uspto.gov, (Title V - Intellectual Property )〕 then changed the patent term from seventeen years from the date of issue to the current twenty years from the earliest filing date. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Term of patent in the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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