The term of a patent is the maximum period during which it can be maintained into force. It is usually expressed in number of years either starting from the filing date of the patent application or from the date of grant of the patent. In most patent laws, renewal annuities or maintenance fees have to be regularly paid in order to maintain the patent into force. Otherwise the patent lapses before its term.

The term of a patent or specific "claims" in a patent may also be curtailed by judgment of a court, as where a claim or patent is held "invalid" under the relevant law, and thus no longer enforceable.

Significant international harmonization of patent term across national laws was provided in the 1990s by the implementation of the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs Agreement). Article 33 of the TRIPs Agreement provides that the

"The term of protection available patents shall not end before the expiration of a period of twenty years counted from the filing date."

Consequently, in most patent laws nowadays, the term of patent is 20 years from the filing date of the application. This however does not forbid the states party to the WTO from providing, in their national law, other type of patent-like rights with shorter term. Utility models are an example of such rights. Their term is usually 6 or 10 years.

In the United States, under current patent law, the term of patent is either 20 years from the earliest claimed filing date or 17 years from the issue date, depending on the filing date and the issue date. Extensions may also be had for various administrative delays. (See: Term of patent in the United States). The exact date of termination may be zealously litigated, especially where daily profits from a patent amount to millions of dollars, e.g., pharmaceuticals.

Other types of patents may have varying terms. For example, in the U.S., design patents (based on a decorative, non-functional design) typically have a 14-year term.

The term of patent protection may also be effected by specific multi-lateral, international agreements. Protection of patents issued in European Union countries were only enforced for three years (until 1995) against pharmaceuticals manufactured in Spain (and cheaply available). Prior to its Treaty of Accession, Spain did not offer patent protection for pharmaceutical products.

See also

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• Maintenance fee
• Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, provides what is called the "priority year"
• Provisional patent application
• Submarine patent
• Supplementary protection certificate (SPC), provides a limited time extension to the protection conferred by certain patents in the European Union

Patent law