USPTO definition:
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. . . . What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention.
The subject matter of a patent MUST be:
1. Useful,
2. Novel, &
3. Non-Obvious
General Information Concerning Patents from the USPTO.
There are three types of patents:
1) Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof;
2) Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; and
3) Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.
USPTO definitions.
Patent laws are codified in title 35 of the United States Code.
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