<P> The inventors, their successors or their assignees become the proprietors of the patent when and if it is granted . If a patent is granted to more than one proprietor, the laws of the country in question and any agreement between the proprietors may affect the extent to which each proprietor can exploit the patent . For example, in some countries, each proprietor may freely license or assign their rights in the patent to another person while the law in other countries prohibits such actions without the permission of the other proprietor (s). </P> <P> The ability to assign ownership rights increases the liquidity of a patent as property . Inventors can obtain patents and then sell them to third parties . The third parties then own the patents and have the same rights to prevent others from exploiting the claimed inventions, as if they had originally made the inventions themselves . </P> <P> The grant and enforcement of patents are governed by national laws, and also by international treaties, where those treaties have been given effect in national laws . Patents are granted by national or regional patent offices . A given patent is therefore only useful for protecting an invention in the country in which that patent is granted . In other words, patent law is territorial in nature . When a patent application is published, the invention disclosed in the application becomes prior art and enters the public domain (if not protected by other patents) in countries where a patent applicant does not seek protection, the application thus generally becoming prior art against anyone (including the applicant) who might seek patent protection for the invention in those countries . </P> <P> Commonly, a nation forms a patent office with responsibility for operating that nation's patent system, within the relevant patent laws . The patent office generally has responsibility for the grant of patents, with infringement being the remit of national courts . </P>

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