Accepted ontology entry
A sovereign grant of exclusion: the right to bar others from making, using, or selling an invention for a fixed term, in exchange for public disclosure. Its parameters are novelty, non-obviousness, and enablement; it persists through maint…
A sovereign grant of exclusion: the right to bar others from making, using, or selling an invention for a fixed term, in exchange for public disclosure. Its parameters are novelty, non-obviousness, and enablement; it persists through maintenance fees, litigation, and the registry that records it. The patent is the legal instrument — not the machine or process it protects.
[formal: corporata brevetti | substrate: behavior | horizon: as-long-as-us | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.7]
A legal grant of exclusive rights to an invention, issued by sovereign authority for a fixed term in exchange for public disclosure. Distinct from copyright (which covers expression — books, music, art) — patent covers functional invention — machines, processes, compositions of matter. Distinct from the invention itself — the patent is the legal construct, not the machine or process. Distinct from software-license (which governs use of software) — patent governs exclusion from making/using/selling an invention.
Patents are creatures of law — sovereign grants of exclusion. Which-came-first: law predates patents.
Patents involve an agreement: disclosure in exchange for exclusivity. Which-came-first: contract predates patents.
A patent is a specific form of legal authorization granting exclusive rights to an invention. Like a license, it is a subtype of authorization — a formal permission granted by authority.
No accepted relations in this direction.