The basic right of the federal government to grant patents can be found in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution
Current law regarding patents can be found in federal statutes, regulations, and case law. Most federal statutes regarding patents can be found in Title 35 of the United States Code, while most federal regulations regarding patents can be found in Title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) of 2011 is the most comprehensive update to U.S. patent law and changed the U.S. patent system from a "first to invent" to a "first inventor to file" system.
The USPTO also regularly proposes new rule changes and procedures which are documented in Federal Register notices.
The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content, as they are available on on GovInfo, are included when available.
