What Are the Different Types of Patents? 

Learn more about the different types of patent applications and which one is right for you and your invention.  

What is a Patent and What Does it Protect? 

A patent is granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and provides a legal basis for inventors to exclusively use and protect an invention for a certain period of time.  If an invention is granted a patent, the owner may enforce it by bringing an infringement action against anyone who makes, uses, or sells the invention without the patent owner’s permission. 

Each type of patent has its own specific requirements, but for an invention to qualify for patent protection it must be unique, non-obvious, and useful.       

Utility Patents

Utility patents are granted to protect new and useful processes, machines, manufactures, compositions of matter, or improvements of existing inventions.  Protected processes can include acts or methods of performing an industrial or technical task.  Machinations that can be patented include any object that is generally considered a machine at any size.  The term “compositions of matter” refers to a mix of existing chemical compounds or new chemical compounds.    

Obtaining a utility patent allows the inventor to prevent others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the patented invention for a period of 20 years from the earliest filing date, without express permission or licensing agreement.  

Design Patents            

Design patents protect new and original ornamental or aesthetic designs on manufactured articles.  It is important to note that these types of patents only protect the superficial design and not the internal workings of any product with the design.  If you are seeking to protect the structure or the interior workings of an invention, a utility patent will be needed.  

Obtaining a design patent will allow you to take legal action against parties making, using, offering for sale, or selling the design for 15 years after the date of issuance.  

Plant Patents

Plant patents are granted to protect novel, nonobvious, asexually reproduced plants.  This includes plants created by any method for asexual reproducing plants, such as cross-pollination or propagation.   

This is one of the least commonly sought types of patents.  If a plant patent is sought and obtained, it affords protection from others creating or profiting from the plant for a term of 20 years from the date of application.  

Provisional & Non-Provisional Patents

A provisional patent application can be submitted to allow the applicant additional time to finesse the invention or conduct additional research while protecting the invention from a priority claim for a year.  A provisional application has minimum requirements for acceptance and works to provide the inventor with a filing date to protect priority against later patent application filers. Within that period of a year, the applicant must file a corresponding non-provisional application to be officially considered for a patent grant.  During that year, the inventor can claim “patent pending.”  

A non-provisional patent application requires very specific details of the invention and must conform to all formalities before it will be examined by the USPTO.  The process for review of a non-provisional application is long and can be arduous, but it is the only path to obtaining patent protection for an invention.  

Key Takeaways about the Types of Patent Protection 

There are three types of patent protection:

• utility patents;

• design patents; and

• plant patents.

For more information on patents, see our Patent Services Overview and our Industry Focused Legal Solutions pages.