IP Basics

What is a patent?

Patents protect inventions: new, inventive and industrially applicable technical solutions, from molecules to machines.

Patents, in short

  • How you get it: application and examination at a patent office (IPI, EPO, USPTO and other national offices).
  • How long it lasts: 20 years from filing, and only for as long as you keep paying the renewal or maintenance fees. Stop paying and the patent lapses early.
  • Extensions are routine, not exotic: in the US, Patent Term Adjustment (35 U.S.C. §154(b)) adds a day of term for each day the patent office itself is late. Roughly two thirds of US patents receive some.
  • On top of that: Patent Term Extension (35 U.S.C. §156) compensates for time lost to regulatory review, the US counterpart of the European supplementary protection certificate (SPC). Both cap out at 5 extra years.
  • The trade-off: full public disclosure of the invention in exchange for the monopoly.

Patents, country by country

IP rights are national. Here is how it works in 8 jurisdictions, checked against each office on 14 August 2026. Orientation, not legal advice.

Switzerland
How you get it
Registered, granted by the IPI. Three routes: a national Swiss application, a European patent via the EPO designating Switzerland, or a PCT application entering the Swiss or European phase.
How long it lasts
A maximum of 20 years from the filing date, with annual fees payable from the fourth year after filing.
The catch
The IPI does not examine national applications for novelty or inventive step, so a granted Swiss patent's validity is untested until somebody challenges it. This changes on 1 January 2027.

Switzerland is not in the EU or the EEA: an EU trade mark or registered EU design does not cover Switzerland, and the unitary patent does not extend here.

Office: Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI)

Germany
How you get it
Registered. The DPMA grants German patents, examined only on request. A European patent from the EPO can also cover Germany, since June 2023 optionally with unitary effect. Germany also offers the Gebrauchsmuster, a utility model.
How long it lasts
Twenty years from filing, with annual renewal fees from the third year. A Gebrauchsmuster runs a maximum of ten years.
The catch
Employee inventions follow the ArbnErfG: a service invention must be reported, and it counts as claimed by the employer unless released within four months - after which the employee has a right to reasonable compensation.

Germany is in the EU, so the national route sits alongside the EU trade mark and registered EU design at EUIPO, and the European patent at the EPO.

Office: German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA)

France
How you get it
Registered and examined. File at INPI for a French patent or a certificat d'utilité, or at the EPO for a European patent, which can be validated in France or given unitary effect.
How long it lasts
Twenty years from filing for a patent, ten years for a certificat d'utilité. Both lapse if the annual fee goes unpaid.
The catch
An invention made by an employee under an inventive mission belongs to the employer, but the employee has a statutory right to additional remuneration.

France is in the EU, so the national route sits alongside the EU trade mark and registered EU design at EUIPO, and the European patent at the EPO.

Office: Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI)

Japan
How you get it
Registered, granted by the JPO. A patent needs a separate request for examination within three years of filing. The utility model is registered without substantive examination, on formal requirements only.
How long it lasts
A patent lasts 20 years from filing, extendable by up to five years for pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals. A utility model lasts 10 years from filing.
The catch
Japan is strictly first to file. The grace period is one year from the disclosure, but it must be claimed with proving documents and does not defeat a third party's earlier filing.

Copyright is administered by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, not the JPO.

Office: Japan Patent Office (JPO)

Poland
How you get it
Registered. Apply nationally to the UPRP, file a European patent at the EPO and validate it in Poland, or use the PCT. Poland has not signed the UPC Agreement, so a unitary patent has no effect here.
How long it lasts
Twenty years from the filing date, subject to periodic protection fees. Medicinal and plant protection products may gain up to five further years.
The catch
Because Poland sits outside the unitary patent, a granted European patent must still be validated nationally - a full Polish translation has to reach the UPRP within three months of the grant.

Poland is in the EU but has not signed the Unified Patent Court Agreement, so a unitary patent has no effect in Poland.

Office: Patent Office of the Republic of Poland (UPRP)

Ukraine
How you get it
Registered. UANIPIO examines and grants patents for inventions and utility models, and the PCT national phase is available. Inventions get substantive examination; utility models get formal examination only.
How long it lasts
Inventions: 20 years from filing, extendable by up to five years for products needing marketing authorisation. Utility models: 10 years, with no extension.
The catch
Utility models are granted with no novelty search, so they are easy to obtain and correspondingly weak. An invention patent can be opposed within nine months of registration; a utility model can be challenged at any time.

The wartime suspension of IP time limits was cancelled with effect from 31 May 2025 and deadlines now run normally. Guidance published before then, saying deadlines are suspended, is out of date.

Office: Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovations (UANIPIO)

United Kingdom
How you get it
Registered, granted by the UKIPO after substantive examination. A European patent designating the UK, granted by the EPO, also takes effect as a UK patent.
How long it lasts
Up to 20 years from filing, subject to annual renewal fees, the first falling due on the fourth anniversary of filing.
The catch
The UK is not in the Unitary Patent system and left the Unified Patent Court Agreement in 2020. A unitary patent gives no UK cover - that has to come from a UKIPO patent or an EPO-granted European patent (UK).

EU rights have not covered the UK since 1 January 2021. The UK remains a party to the European Patent Convention, which is separate from the EU.

Office: UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO)

United States
How you get it
Only by grant after examination by the USPTO - there is no unregistered patent right. The US has been first-inventor-to-file since March 2013.
How long it lasts
A utility patent runs 20 years from the earliest US filing date it claims benefit of, subject to maintenance fees at 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 years after grant.
The catch
The one-year grace period only covers the inventor's own disclosure. Any public use, sale or publication anywhere in the world starts that clock, and most other countries give no grace period at all.

Copyright is handled by the US Copyright Office, not the USPTO. The US has no separate design right: appearance is protected by a design patent.

Office: United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

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Also in the basics: Trademarks · Copyright · Designs · Trade secrets