patent types

It is possible for an inventor to categorize his idea or invention under one of three heads – utility patent, design patent, or plant patent.
Utility Patent:-The most common type of patent is the utility patent. This kind of patent is awardable for an invention, or discovery, or an improvement thereof that can be applied, within reasonable time, for public good and / or makes sound economic sense. A utility patent applies to the way something is made, how a device operates, or a process for accomplishing some utilitarian purpose. The subject of a utility patent must result from human activity (and not be a product of nature). It can be any one of the following or an improvement on any of them:
• A manufactured article: Such as a corkscrew or a stapler.
• A machine: For example, a photocopier or a computer.
• A composition of matter: Such as a cough medicine or an adhesive.
• A process for making or doing something: For example, a method for refining sugar or a protocol for managing investment accounts.
The invention can also be a combination of these things. A new use of an old machine can be patented as a process.
Design Patents: - The next major category of patents is the Design Patent that is issued for a new, original, and ornamental design of an article of manufacture. This grant allows the owner the exclusive rights that will prevent others from making, using, or selling the design. Design patents are usually non-utility patents that are awardable to "new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture".
Plant patents: - The third major patent category is the Plant Patent. Such a patent is issued for a new, distinct, invented or discovered, asexually reproduced plant including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found seedlings, other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state, it permits its owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling, or asexually reproducing the plant for a period of up to twenty years from the date of filing of application