Patent pertains to the exclusive right, granted by the government, to make use of an invention or process for a specific period of time, usually 14 to 20 years. To quote the U.S. statute governing patents, patents are described as simply granted to people who (claim to) "invent or discover any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof. A patent protects newly developed or improved industrial, chemical and biotechnological products or processes (new inventions) and can also cover computer software. These are variably referred to as the 'Inventors Rights'.

The Patent Office examiners only verify that the description and claims, AS DESCRIBED by their inventors or patent attorneys, are new, unique, and not obvious to the Patent Office. When you register a Patent, you can prevent others from making and using your invention. After this period has expired the rights to the patent may be used by others to produce or use your invention. Without a patent, it is difficult to prevent others from making and using your invention. Not all inventions can be patented. To be able to patent an invention, it must be new and it must be inventive. It must meet these requirements in order to be awarded a patent registration.

An invention can be considered as "new" if it,
* has not been shown or
* described to the public (whether in a publication, by exhibition or verbally) world-wide prior to filing a patent application.

Selling, getting orders or trying to get orders can also make a patent registration invalid. To ensure that a registration is valid the new inventions must be kept secret. Discussions concerning selling, marketing etc. could also invalidate the registration. Therefore, all the new invention details must be kept secret if you want to obtain valid registration for them in the future.

Patent does not include "ideas". The patent office does not grant patents for "mere ideas or suggestions." The rules also require that it should be explicit enough such that anyone "ordinarily skilled in the art" can apply what they learn in the patent to make the invention and make it work successfully.

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) introduced the PCT system. This basically provides a method that allows the filing of patent applications in over 100 signatory countries. This system has ensured that the PCT filing method has become simpler when filing applications globally.