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Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, selling, and importing an invention for a limited period of years, in exchange for publishing an enabling public disclosure of the invention. In most countries patent rights fall under civil law and the patent holder needs to sue someone infringing the patent in order to enforce his or her rights. In some industries patents are an essential form of competitive advantage; in others they are irrelevant.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.Under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) TRIPS Agreement, patents should be available in WTO member states for any invention, in all fields of technology, provided they are new, involve an inventive step, and are capable of industrial application. Nevertheless, there are variations on what is patentable subject matter from country to country, also among WTO member states. TRIPS also provides that the term of protection available should be a minimum of twenty years.
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Patent (noun)
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.
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Patent (noun)
A specific grant of ownership of a piece of property; a land patent.
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Patent (noun)
License; formal permission.
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Patent (noun)
Patent leather: a varnished, high-gloss leather typically used for shoes and accessories.
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Patent (verb)
To successfully register an invention with a government agency; to secure a letter patent.
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Patent (adjective)
Open, unobstructed, expanded.
“That is a patent ductus arteriosus.”
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Patent (adjective)
Explicit and obvious.
“Those claims are patent nonsense.”
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Patent (adjective)
That is fine, and consists mostly of the inner part of the endosperm.
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Patent (adjective)
Open; unconcealed; conspicuous.
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Patent (adjective)
Open to public perusal; said of a document conferring some right or privilege.
“letters patent”
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Patent (adjective)
Protected by a legal patent.
“a patent right; patent medicines”
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Proprietary (adjective)
Of or relating to property or ownership.
“proprietary rights”
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Proprietary (adjective)
Owning something; having ownership.
“the proprietary class”
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Proprietary (adjective)
Created or manufactured exclusively by the owner of intellectual property rights, as with a patent or trade secret.
“The continuous profitability of the company is based on its many proprietary products.”
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Proprietary (adjective)
Nonstandard and controlled by one particular organization.
“a proprietary extension to the HTML standard for Web page structure”
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Proprietary (adjective)
Privately owned.
“a proprietary lake; a proprietary chapel”
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Proprietary (adjective)
Possessive, jealous, or territorial.
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Proprietary (noun)
A proprietor or owner.
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Proprietary (noun)
A body of proprietors, taken collectively.
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Proprietary (noun)
The rights of a proprietor.
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Proprietary (noun)
A monk who had reserved goods and belongings to himself, notwithstanding his renunciation of all at the time of profession.
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Patent (noun)
a government authority or licence conferring a right or title for a set period, especially the sole right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention
“he took out a patent for an improved steam hammer”
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Patent (noun)
patent leather
“designs in a wide range of textures featuring super-chic patent, soft suede, or sophisticated nappa”
“he wore black trousers and black patent shoes”
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Patent (adjective)
easily recognizable; obvious
“she was smiling with patent insincerity”
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Patent (adjective)
(of a vessel, duct, or aperture) open and unobstructed; failing to close
“the patient is usually left with a patent vessel”
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Patent (adjective)
(of a parasitic infection) showing detectable parasites in the tissues or faeces
“there are a few recorded cases of patent infection in man”
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Patent (adjective)
made and marketed under a patent; proprietary
“patent milk powder”
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Patent (verb)
obtain a patent for (an invention)
“an invention is not your own until it is patented”
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Proprietary (adjective)
relating to an owner or ownership
“the company has a proprietary right to the property”
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Proprietary (adjective)
behaving as if one owned something or someone
“he looked about him with a proprietary air”
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Proprietary (adjective)
(of a product) marketed under and protected by a registered trade name
“proprietary brands of insecticide”