A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a
person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public
disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or substance
(known as an invention) which is new, inventive and useful.
The
term "patent" originates from the Latin word patere which means "to lay
open" (ie. make available for public inspection) and the term letters
patent, which originally denoted royal decrees granting exclusive
rights to certain individuals or businesses.
In
accordance with the original definition of the term "patent", one
school of thought holds that patent legislation facilitates and
encourages disclosure of innovation into the public domain for the
common good, by granting the inventor exclusive rights to exploit their
invention for a limited period.
A patent seems to
confer a monopoly upon an owner in the economic sense, as the owner has
the right to exclude others from using or exploiting the invention.
However, this is only strictly true if there is no viable alternative
invention in the same marketplace. In addition, ownership of a patent
does not confer the right to actually make, use, or sell the invention,
as exploiting the invention may infringe another patent (such as where
an invention is an improvement of an existing invention patented by
another), and other laws and regulations may restrict exploitation.