Definition

• Patent law governs the "right to exclude others from making, using or selling an invention or products made by an invented process that is granted to an inventor" for a period of time. Patents are not granted if the invention or product is obvious or known or used by others. Visit the United States Patent & Trademark Office website for more information.
  
  

Types

• The United States grants patents for new processes, designs and plants.
  
  

Utility Patents

• Utility patents mean "new and useful" processes, machines, manufactured products, or composition of matter (such as a new medicine) or improvements of these.
  
  

Design Patents

• The United States grants design patents for "new, original and ornamental" designs for manufactured products.
  
  

Plant Patents

• New plant hybrids can be patented.Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of "th?R
  
  Patents may be granted for the invention or discovery of asexually reproduced "distinct and new" varieties of plants.
  
  

History and Fun Fact

• The power of the United States to grant patents is in Section 1, Article 8 of the Constitution.