What is "patent"

Patent \Pat"ent\ (p[a^]t"ent or p[=a]t"ent), a. [L. patens, -entis, p. pr. of patere to be open: cf. F. patent. Cf. Fathom.]

1. Note: (Oftener pronounced p[=a]t"ent in this sense) Open; expanded; evident; apparent; unconcealed; manifest; public; conspicuous.

   He had received instructions, both patent and secret.
   --Motley.

2. Open to public perusal; -- said of a document conferring some right or privilege; as, letters patent. See Letters patent, under 3d Letter.

3. Appropriated or protected by letters patent; secured by official authority to the exclusive possession, control, and disposal of some person or party; patented; as, a patent right; patent medicines.

   Madder . . . in King Charles the First's time, was made a patent commodity.
   --Mortimer.

4. (Bot.) Spreading; forming a nearly right angle with the steam or branch; as, a patent leaf. Patent leather, a varnished or lacquered leather, used for boots and shoes, and in carriage and harness work. Patent office, a government bureau for the examination of inventions and the granting of patents. Patent right.

   1. The exclusive right to an invention, and the control of its manufacture.

   2. (Law) The right, granted by the sovereign, of exclusive control of some business of manufacture, or of the sale of certain articles, or of certain offices or prerogatives.

      Patent rolls, the registers, or records, of patents.

Patent \Pat"ent\, n. [Cf. F. patente. See Patent, a.]

1. A letter patent, or letters patent; an official document, issued by a sovereign power, conferring a right or privilege on some person or party. Specifically:

   1. A writing securing to an invention.

   2. A document making a grant and conveyance of public lands.

      Four other gentlemen of quality remained mentioned in that patent.
      --Fuller.

      Note: In the United States, by the act of 1870, patents for inventions are issued for seventeen years, without the privilege of renewal except by act of Congress.

2. The right or privilege conferred by such a document; hence, figuratively, a right, privilege, or license of the nature of a patent.

   If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent to offend.
   --Shak.

Patent \Pat"ent\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Patented; p. pr. & vb. n. Patenting.] To grant by patent; to make the subject of a patent; to secure or protect by patent; as, to patent an invention; to patent public lands.

late 14c., "open letter or document from some authority," shortened form of Anglo-French lettre patent (also in Medieval Latin (litteræ) patentes), literally "open letter" (late 13c.), from Old French patente (see patent (adj.).\nThe Letters Patent were ... written upon open sheets of parchment, with the Great Seal pendent at the bottom ... [while] the 'Litteræ Clausæ,' or Letters Close, ... being of a more private nature, and addressed to one or two individuals only, were closed or folded up and sealed on the outside. [S.R. Scargill-Bird, "A Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents at the Public Record Office," 1891]\nMeaning "a license covering an invention" is from 1580s.

"to obtain right to land," 1670s, from patent (n.). The meaning "copyright an invention" is first recorded 1822, from earlier meaning "obtain exclusive right or monopoly" (1789), a privilege granted by the Crown via letters patent. Related: Patented; patenting.

late 14c., in letters patent, literally "open letter," from Old French patente, from Latin patentum (nominative patens) "open, lying open," present participle of patere "lie open, be open," from PIE *pete- "to spread" (see pace (n.)). Sense of "open to view, plain, clear" is first recorded c.1500. Related: Patently.

Etymology 1 n. A declaration issued by a government agency declaring someone the inventor of a new invention and having the privilege of stopping others from making, using or selling the claimed invention; a letter patent. vb. To successfully register an invention with a government agency; to secure a letter patent. Etymology 2

1. 1 (context biology English) open, unobstructed, expanded. 2 explicit and obvious. 3 (context of flour English) that is fine, and consists mostly of the inner part of the endosperm 4 Open; unconcealed; conspicuous. 5 Open to public perusal; said of a document conferring some right or privilege. 6 Protected by a legal patent.

1. v. obtain a patent for; "Should I patent this invention?"

2. grant rights to; grant a patent for

3. make open to sight or notice; "His behavior has patented an embarrassing fact about him"

1. adj. (of a bodily tube or passageway) open; affording free passage; "patent ductus arteriosus"

2. clearly apparent or obvious to the mind or senses; "the effects of the drought are apparent to anyone who sees the parched fields"; "evident hostility"; "manifest disapproval"; "patent advantages"; "made his meaning plain"; "it is plain that he is no reactionary"; "in plain view" [syn: apparent, evident, manifest, plain]

1. n. a document granting an inventor sole rights to an invention [syn: patent of invention]

2. an official document granting a right or privilege [syn: letters patent]

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.

A patent ( or ) is a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for detailed public disclosure of an invention. An invention is a solution to a specific technological problem and is a product or a process. Patents are a form of intellectual property.

The procedure for granting patents, requirements placed on the patentee, and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries according to national laws and international agreements. Typically, however, a granted patent application must include one or more claims that define the invention. A patent may include many claims, each of which defines a specific property right. These claims must meet relevant patentability requirements, such as novelty, usefulness, and non-obviousness. The exclusive right granted to a patentee in most countries is the right to prevent others, or at least to try to prevent others, from commercially making, using, selling, importing, or distributing a patented invention without permission.

Under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, patents should be available in WTO member states for any invention, in all fields of technology, and the term of protection available should be a minimum of twenty years. Nevertheless, there are variations on what is patentable subject matter from country to country.