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

A patent is an intellectual property right covering an invention.

Patent can also refer to the following:

[edit] Types of patents

• Utility patent for inventions that do something useful such as apparatus, methods, processes, and new chemicals, plants, animals, bacteria, and genes
• 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"
• Plant Patent Act, a legislation allowing plant breeds to be patented in the United States

[edit] Other uses

• Letters patent
• Patent leather
• Land patent (also referred to as a land grant)
• Patent medicine
• Patented mining claim
• A type of bet offered by UK bookmakers
• In medicine and biology, patent implies open, unobstructed, expanded, e.g. patent ductus arteriosus.

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