Term of patent in the United States

Okay, kiddo, imagine you made a cool toy that nobody else has ever thought of before. You want to make sure no other kid can make or sell that exact same toy for a certain amount of time, so you go to the government and ask them to give you a special document called a patent. This is like a certificate that proves that you came up with the idea first and you have the right to decide who else can make or sell your toy.

Now, the government is not going to give you this patent forever. They are going to set a limit for how long you can have exclusive rights to your toy. In the United States, this limit is usually 20 years. This means that for 20 years, nobody else can legally make or sell your toy without your permission.

After those 20 years are up, your patent expires, and other people are free to make and sell your toy or something similar. But during those 20 years, you have the power to decide who can use your toy, how much they have to pay you, and even if you don't want anyone else to use it at all.

So, that's basically how patents work in the U.S. - they give the creator of a new invention a limited time to have control over it before others can start making their own versions of it.