A patent is a government grant giving the owner the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering to sell, and importing an invention or discovery. A utility patent protects machines, processes, articles of manufacture, compositions of matter, and improvements.
Design patents cover the ornamental appearance of articles of manufacture or machines.
Plant patents protect asexually reproduced plants. Design patents have a term of 14 years from issuance. Obviousness is a legal judgment based upon studying the teachings and suggestions of the prior art. A patent attorney can perform a patentability search to identify the best available prior art, and render an opinion on whether an invention may be patentable. The patentability search enables the writing of a better patent application and reduces the risk and expense of filing an application on something already known.