A U.S. patent gives its owner a right to exclude others from certain activities involving the patented invention. It does not, by itself, give the owner permission to make or sell a product. Other patents and other laws can still matter.
Three Types of Patents
Utility patents cover qualifying processes, machines, manufactured articles, compositions of matter, and improvements. Most of the mechanism drawings in our archive come from utility patents.
Design patents protect qualifying ornamental designs for articles of manufacture. The appearance shown in the drawings matters to that protection.
Plant patents concern qualifying new and distinct plant varieties that have been asexually reproduced, subject to statutory requirements.
An Application Is a Request
Filing an application starts a process. It does not guarantee that a patent will issue. During examination, the patent office considers whether the application satisfies the requirements for a patent.
Read the Claims Next
A title tells you the subject. The claims define the claimed invention. For a tour of the document, start with how to read a patent.