Protects Inventors

• Although inventors can't protect an idea or suggestion, the United States government provides them protection against their inventions being stolen. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a patent is granted to inventors to exclude others from making, using or selling their inventions. This means that after inventors receive their patents, no one else can try to make the invention their own. If, for example, a person invents a new drug for cancer and receives a patent, then a drug company can't start making that drug because the person owns the patent to the new drug. The protection lasts for a specific number of years. For instance, the USPTO provides protection for a plant or utility patent from 17 to 20 years.
  
  

Required by U.S. Constitution

• The United States Founding Fathers made a patent necessary centuries ago. In Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, it is written that a patent does two things: promotes useful arts and the progress of science (that is, creations and new discoveries in those areas) and provides inventors with exclusive rights to their intellectual properties.
  
  

Provides Incentives

• A patent is also necessary because it provides inventors with rewards for their creativity. Granted, some inventors may not make any money from their inventions, while others may make millions of dollars. However, a patent gives the inventor name recognition. This means that a patent encourages innovation and the desire to keep transforming new ideas into new products and discoveries.
  
  

Ensures Originality

• Without a patent, which is publicly documented after the USPTO grants an inventor's application, the public (including other inventors) wouldn't know about the invention. If other inventors are unknowingly working on the same type of inventions, then they may market them as their own without knowing that others have received the necessary patents already. Therefore, inventors with new discoveries or products should complete a patent search with the USPTO to ensure that they aren't trying to invent something that has been invented already.