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3.1 Patents
A patent grants an inventor the right to exclude others from
making, using, offering for sale, or selling an invention for a fixed
period of time - in most countries, for up to 20 years. When the time
period ends, the patent goes into the public domain and anyone
may use it.
In other words, patent is the granting of special right by the
government to produce, use or sale any invention to any firm for the
specified period. The patent is prepared to promote invention and
innovation.
According to Pappas and Brigham Patents are a
government grant of exclusive right to produce, use, or sell an
invention or idea for a specified period of time.
According to Milton H. Spencer - A patent is an exclusive
right conferred by a government on an inventor, for a limited time
period.
In the words of Hisrich and Peters - "A patent is a contract
between the government and an inventor. In the exchange for
disclosure of the invention, the government grants the inventor
exclusivity regarding the invention for a specified amount of time."
In fact, patent means the granting of limited monopoly power
designed to encourage invention and innovation. It grants right to
the inventors to build, use, and transfer or to keep with themselves
their invention. They can do this work even without patent. But
patent gives them right to exclude others from their invention or to
make other participate only on their condition. In this way, patent is
a method to promote invention by providing temporary but legal
monopoly to the inventors. In the absence of patent the competitors
may immediately develop close substitute goods or processes if not
uniform goods or processes, due to which the inventor-firm cannot
take full benefit of its development.
Types of Patent
The major types of patent are as follows3:
1. Utility Patent
It is granted for new processes, machines, manufactures, and
compositions of matter. This category excludes most botanical
creations related to plant and agricultural use. In United States of
America the utility patent is granted with a protected period of 17
years.
2. Design Patent
It is granted for any new or original ornamental design for an
article of manufacture, for example Nike shoes design. A design
patent protects the appearance of the article, not the article itself.
An inventor could easily register both a utility patent and a design
patent, but the design patent has a limited life. In United States of

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America the design patent is granted with protected period of 3, 7,

or 14 years.
3. Plant Patent
It is granted for botanical creations that have been a sexually
reproduced and to not exist in nature, for example unusual hybrid
roses, ornamental trees, food grains, and an assortment of specialpurpose grasses, herbs, and vegetable plants. The new plant must
not exist in nature or in an uncultivated state. In United States of
America the plant patent is granted with a protected period of 17
years.