How long intellectual property rights last in the United States depends on which type you hold. Copyrights generally run for the author’s life plus 70 years. Utility and plant patents last 20 years from the application filing date, and design patents last 15 years from grant. Trademarks can last forever if the owner keeps using the mark and files the required renewals. Trade secrets last as long as the information stays secret and keeps its economic value. Each type has its own renewal steps, extensions, and ways to lose protection early.
How Long Copyright Lasts
Works Created On or After January 1, 1978
For any work created on or after January 1, 1978, copyright begins the moment the work is fixed in a tangible form and lasts for the author’s life plus 70 years.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S.C. 302 – Duration of Copyright: Works Created on or After January 1, 1978 No registration or notice is required for protection to exist. If two or more people created a joint work, the 70-year clock starts when the last surviving author dies.
Works made for hire, anonymous works, and pseudonymous works follow a different rule. They get a flat term of 95 years from first publication or 120 years from creation, whichever ends sooner.2U.S. Copyright Office. How Long Does Copyright Protection Last? If an anonymous or pseudonymous author’s identity is later recorded with the Copyright Office, the term converts to the standard life-plus-70 formula.
Works Published Before 1978
Older works run on a different timeline. Under the original Copyright Act, works published before 1978 got an initial 28-year term with an option to renew. Congress later extended the renewal term so these works now receive 95 years of protection total, measured from first publication.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S.C. 304 – Duration of Copyright: Subsisting Copyrights As of January 1, 2026, works published in 1930 or earlier are in the public domain. Each New Year’s Day, another year’s worth of pre-1978 publications drops out of copyright.
How Long Patents Last
Utility and Plant Patents
Utility patents (new inventions and processes) and plant patents (new plant varieties reproduced asexually) last 20 years from the date the application was filed.4United States Patent and Trademark Office. Managing a Patent The filing date controls, not the date the patent is granted. Because examination can take several years, the effective period of enforceable protection is often closer to 15 or 17 years.
If your application references an earlier filing in a chain (a continuation or divisional), the 20-year term runs from the earliest filing date in that chain.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 35 U.S.C. 154 – Contents and Term of Patent; Provisional Rights One useful exception: a 12-month provisional application does not count against the 20 years. The clock starts when you file the full non-provisional application.
Design Patents
Design patents cover the ornamental appearance of a product rather than how it works. For applications filed on or after May 13, 2015, the term is 15 years from the grant date.6United States Patent and Trademark Office. Manual of Patent Examining Procedure – 1505 Term of Design Patent Applications filed before that date received a 14-year term. Design and plant patents require no maintenance fees to remain in force.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 35 U.S.C. 41 – Patent Fees; Patent and Trademark Search Systems
Maintenance Fees Can End a Utility Patent Early
A utility patent’s 20-year term is conditional. The owner must pay maintenance fees at 3.5 years, 7.5 years, and 11.5 years after the patent is granted.8United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule Miss a payment and the patent expires, no matter how many years remain on the term. There is a six-month grace period with a surcharge; miss that too, and the patent lapses. Reinstatement requires a separate petition and is not guaranteed.
Adjustments and Extensions
Two mechanisms can push the effective life beyond 20 years. Patent term adjustment compensates for USPTO delays during examination. If the office takes too long to issue a first response, act on an appeal, or grant the patent once requirements are met, extra days are added on a day-for-day basis.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 35 U.S.C. 154 – Contents and Term of Patent; Provisional Rights Any delays caused by the applicant reduce that total. The final adjustment appears in the issue notification letter.
Patent term extension is separate and applies to inventions that needed regulatory approval, most often pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Under the Hatch-Waxman Act, the term can be extended by up to five years to make up for time spent in FDA review. Even with the extension, the total period of patent protection after FDA approval cannot exceed 14 years.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 35 U.S.C. 156 – Extension of Patent Term
How Long Trademarks Last
Trademarks can last forever. There is no built-in expiration date. But indefinite protection depends on active use of the mark and on-time paperwork.
The 10-Year Renewal Cycle
A federal trademark registration with the USPTO lasts for an initial 10-year term. To keep it alive, the owner must file specific documents on a strict schedule.10United States Patent and Trademark Office. Keeping Your Registration Alive
- Between years 5 and 6, file a Declaration of Use (Section 8 affidavit) with evidence that the mark is still in commercial use.
- Between years 9 and 10, file a combined Declaration of Use and Application for Renewal (Sections 8 and 9).
- Every 10 years after that, file the same combined Section 8 and 9 documents.
Each window has a six-month grace period, with the USPTO charging an additional $100 per class of goods or services for late filings.11United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Fee Information Miss the grace period and the registration is cancelled. Reviving the mark then requires a fresh application.
Incontestable Status After Five Years
After five consecutive years of continuous use following registration, the owner can file a Section 15 declaration to make the mark incontestable.12United States Patent and Trademark Office. Declaration of Incontestability of a Mark Under Section 15 Once a mark is incontestable, competitors can no longer challenge the registration’s validity on most common grounds.13United States Patent and Trademark Office. Definitions for Maintaining a Trademark Registration The filing is optional. The mark must be on the Principal Register and still in active use when the declaration is filed.
How Long Trade Secrets Last
Trade secrets have no fixed term. Protection lasts as long as the information stays secret, keeps its economic value from being secret, and is protected by reasonable steps such as nondisclosure agreements and limits on internal access. If any one of those conditions fails, the trade secret ends.14United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trade Secret Policy
The Coca-Cola formula is the standard example, having been kept secret for well over a century. In theory a well-guarded trade secret can outlast any patent or copyright. In practice, the protection is fragile. A data breach, a careless employee, or a competitor’s independent discovery can destroy trade secret status permanently, with no way to restore it.
Deadline to Sue for Misappropriation
If someone steals or misuses a trade secret, the owner has a limited window to sue. Under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, a claim must be filed within three years after the misappropriation was discovered, or should have been discovered through reasonable diligence.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 1836 – Civil Proceedings Most state trade secret laws set a similar three-year limit. A continuing misappropriation counts as a single claim, so the clock runs from when the owner first knew or should have known, not from each individual act.
What Happens When Protection Ends
Once a copyright or patent term runs out, the work or invention enters the public domain. Anyone can use, copy, adapt, or build on it without permission or payment. Expired patents becoming freely usable is why generic drug manufacturers can produce copies of brand-name medications once the underlying patent lapses. As of 2026, all works published in the United States in 1930 or earlier are in the public domain.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S.C. 304 – Duration of Copyright: Subsisting Copyrights
Trademarks and trade secrets work differently. A trademark doesn’t expire into the public domain on a set date. It simply loses protection if the owner stops using it or fails to file renewals.16United States Patent and Trademark Office. Post-Registration Timeline Trade secrets never enter the public domain either. They either stay protected because they’re still secret, or lose protection entirely because confidentiality was lost.14United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trade Secret Policy
U.S. IP Rights Stop at the Border
One point catches many owners off guard: U.S. intellectual property rights are territorial. A U.S. patent gives you no protection in Europe, Asia, or anywhere else, and the same is true for trademarks and copyrights.17United States Patent and Trademark Office. Protecting Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Overseas Protection in another country requires a separate filing there or through a regional office. Treaties like the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the Madrid Protocol can streamline the process, but each jurisdiction sets its own duration and renewal rules, which may differ from the U.S. terms above.