Patent (disambiguation)

Look up Patent, patent, patently, or patency in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A patent a set of exclusive rights granted by a state (national government) to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention.

Types of intellectual property patents

• Biological patent
• Business method patent
• Chemical patent
• Design patent for an ornamental design or shape
• Software patent
• Utility model, also known as a "petty patent," "innovation patent," "minor patent," or "small patent"
• Utility (patent), for an invention that functions in a unique manner and not merely ornamental.

Other meanings of patent

• Letters patent, a type of legal instrument issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation
• Land patent, a land grant, such as in a patented mining claim
• Patent leather, a shiny form of leather originally produced by a patented process
• Patent medicine, medical compounds of questionable effectiveness sold under a variety of names and labels
• Patent bet, in the UK, a wager on three selections and consisting of 7 separate bets
• In medicine and biology, patent implies open, unobstructed, expanded, e.g. patent ductus arteriosus

See also

• Plant Patent Act, legislation allowing plant breeds to be patented in the United States

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.