From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The copyright status of the content of patent applications and patents may vary from one legislation to another.

Legislations

United States

In the United States, a patent applicant may obtain copyright protection or mask work protection for the content of their patent application if they include the following authorization notice in their application:^[1]

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to (copyright or mask work) protection. The (copyright or mask work) owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all (copyright or mask work) rights whatsoever.

Otherwise, however, "the text and drawings of a patent are typically not subject to copyright restrictions."^[2]

European Patent Organisation

Japan

World Intellectual Property Organization

References

External links

• United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) web site, Copyright and Trademark Issues RE: Materials from USPTO Website.