The concept of DVDs is not protected. The standards were developed by a consortium of companies now known as the DVD Forum.
He is dead and doesn't own any property, let alone patents.
Thomas Edison held 1093 US patents, and over 2000 worldwide.
The US department that is in control of issuing patents for inventions is the department of patents, designs and trademarks. You can contact this department by telephone on the number 1-800-786-9199
Patents are issued by governments. Although many of them have the same definitions for patents, they sometimes disagree. You can get a patent in the United States for genetic cloning but not in some European countries, as an example.
Mathias Weddell
ALL US patents expire within a timeframe.
... are unenforceable... There are some patents that expire in less than 20 years and some that expire in more than 20 years, depending upon what you're trying to ask.
Yes. Patents usually expire approximately over a period of 20 years or may expire soon if the annual maintenance fee is not paid properly. A patent published in 1905 is expired and will now be in public domain.
November 2011
Yes. They are initially good for 20 years, but may be renewed. In the USA and most other countries, expired patents cannot be renewed and the invention is permanently "public domain" property.
This information describes only U.S. Patents. For utility applications filed on or after June 8, 1995, the patent expires 20 years from the filing date of the earliest U.S. application to which priority is claimed (excluding provisional applications). For utility applications that were pending on and for patents that were still in force on June 8, 1995, the patent expires 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. Design patents expire 14 years from the date of issue.
It may vary from a few months to several years, depending upon a number of factors related to the competition, related patents, which countries it is patented in, and how complicated the invention is to manufacture with the necessary pharmaceutical approvals.
the first players hit the US market in 1996, but it was a working system under development since 1992 (patents being applied for)
99,220, including utility patents, plant patents, design patents, and reissues.
The USPTO granted a total of 247,727 patents from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011, including Reissue Patents, Plant Patents, Design Patents, and Utility Patents.
The US Patent Office issued 99,200 total patents from 1 January 1990 to 31 December 1990, including 9 reissue patents, 6 plant patents, 194 design patents, and 98,991 utility patents.
Charles Kettering had 104 patents.