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What types of patents are available?

A patent is a government document that grants an inventor the sole right to manufacture his or her invention for a certain period of time. There are three types of patents available:

1. Utility patents—granted for new, useful, and nonobvious process, machine, manufactured article, composition, or an improvement in any of the above.
2. Design patents—granted for new, original, and ornamental designs for an article of manufacture.
3. Plant patents—granted for the invention or discovery, and asexual reproduction, of any distinct and new variety of plant.

Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Basic Facts About Patents, p. 4.

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