<P> A patent does not give a right to make or use or sell an invention . Rather , a patent provides , from a legal standpoint , the right to exclude others from making , using , selling , offering for sale , or importing the patented invention for the term of the patent , which is usually 20 years from the filing date subject to the payment of maintenance fees . From an economic and practical standpoint however , a patent is better and perhaps more precisely regarded as conferring upon its proprietor `` a right to try to exclude by asserting the patent in court '' , for many granted patents turn out to be invalid once their proprietors attempt to assert them in court . A patent is a limited property right the government gives inventors in exchange for their agreement to share details of their inventions with the public . Like any other property right , it may be sold , licensed , mortgaged , assigned or transferred , given away , or simply abandoned . </P>
patents to produce and sell inventions are conveyed by the federal government for a period ​ of
usually 20 years from the filing date