Patent protection for design patents only lasts for 14 years after the patent is granted, so they offer six years less protection than other patent types. Unlike plant and utility patents, however, no maintenance fee is required to keep a design patent active.
A virus is a small, infectious agent that is made up of a core of genetic material surrounded by a shell of protein. The genetic material (which is responsible for carrying forward hereditary traits from parent cells to offspring) may be either deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA).
At the most basic level, a virus particle is a package containing nucleic acid. The packaging material is protein encoded by the nucleic acid. The particle can enter cells and, taking advantage of the cellular biosynthetic machinery, direct the production of progeny virus particles identical to the infecting parent.