Types of intellectual property patents

• Biological patent
  Biological patent
  A biological patent is a patent relating to an invention or discovery in biology. It can be a composition of matter, a method for obtaining or using one or more thereof, or a product combining such things...
  
  
• Business method patent
  Business method patent
  Business method patents are a class of patents which disclose and claim new methods of doing business. This includes new types of e-commerce, insurance, banking, tax compliance etc. Business method patents are a relatively new species of patent and there have been several reviews investigating the...
  
  
• Chemical patent
  Chemical patent
  A chemical patent or pharmaceutical patent is a patent for an invention in the chemical or pharmaceuticals industry. Strictly speaking, in most jurisdictions, there are essentially no differences between the legal requirements to obtain a patent for an invention in the chemical or pharmaceutical...
  
  
• Design patent
  Design patent
  In the United States, a design patent is a patent granted on the ornamental design of a functional item. Design patents are a type of industrial design right. Ornamental designs of jewelry, furniture, beverage containers and computer icons are examples of objects that are covered by design...
  
   for an ornamental design or shape
• Software patent
  Software patent
  Software patent does not have a universally accepted definition. One definition suggested by the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure is that a software patent is a "patent on any performance of a computer realised by means of a computer program".In 2005, the European Patent Office...
  
  
• Utility model
  Utility model
  A utility model is an intellectual property right to protect inventions. This right is available in a number of national statutes, as described below...
  
  , also known as a "petty patent," "innovation patent," "minor patent," or "small patent"
• Utility (patent)
  Utility (patent)
  In United States patent law, utility is a patentability requirement. As provided by , an invention is "useful" if it provides some identifiable benefit and is capable of use...
  
  , for an invention that functions in a unique manner and not merely ornametal.

Other meanings of patent

• Letters patent
  Letters patent
  Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
  
  , 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
  Land patent
  A land patent is a land grant made patent by the sovereign lord over the land in question. To make a such a grant “patent”, such a sovereign lord must document the land grant, securely sign and seal the document and openly publish the same to the public for all to see...
  
  , a land grant, such as in a patented mining claim
• Patent leather
  Patent leather
  Patent leather is a type of japanned leather that has been given a high gloss, shiny finish. The process was brought to the United States and improved by Newark-based inventor Seth Boyden in 1818, with commercial manufacture beginning September 20, 1819. Boyden's process, which he never patented,...
  
  , a shiny form of leather originally produced by a patented process
• Patent medicine
  Patent medicine
  Patent medicine refers to medical compounds of questionable effectiveness sold under a variety of names and labels. The term "patent medicine" is somewhat of a misnomer because, in most cases, although many of the products were trademarked, they were never patented...
  
  , 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
  Patent ductus arteriosus
  Patent ductus arteriosus is a congenital disorder in the heart wherein a neonate's ductus arteriosus fails to close after birth. Early symptoms are uncommon, but in the first year of life include increased work of breathing and poor weight gain...
  
  

See also

• Plant Patent Act
  Plant Patent Act
  The Plant Patent Act of 1930 is a United States federal law spurred by the work of Luther Burbank....
  
  , legislation allowing plant breeds to be patented in the United States