Are there different kinds of patents?
Yes, there are three different kinds of patents: • Utility patents, • Plant patents, and • Design patents. Which type of patent you should pursue depends on the subjection matter of your invention. Utility patents protect new and useful processes, machines, articles of manufacture, compositions of matter, or any new and useful improvement within the aforementioned categories. Utility patents encompass the broadest amount of subject matter and are the most commonly encountered patent type. Plant patents protect novel varieties and species of asexually propagated plants. If you seek protection of a new species of plant that propagates by seed, a plant patent is not the proper route for protection. Rather, we would seek protection under the Plant Variety Protection Act. Finally, design patents protect designs that are new, original and ornamental. Each type of patent offers basically the same kind of protection; however there are slight differences among the three. Probably the most visib
