There is also situations where an inventor must file because of a statutory bar date, such as the publication of the idea in trade journal, nearly one year earlier. It is in these types of situations that a patent attornet is the most valuable. Only a professional can prepare and file an application on very short notice. Also note that while the U.S. has a one year grace period, many foreign countries have none at all. Once the subject matter of an invention is published, the foreign rights are compromised forever.
Inventors generally own their inventions, even if they are employed by a company.
The employee was specifically hired to invent the particular invention or make developments in the general area of the invention. This is based on fairness in situations where the employee made the invention on company time with company equipment or resources. A utility patent has a life of 20 years from the date of filing. This, however, includes all of the time that the application is in the Patent Office. Whatever time it takes comes out of the life of the patent.