What is Patent?
A '''patent''' gives an [[inventor]] the right to stop other people making or using their invention. If someone makes or uses that invention without being allowed to, the [[inventor]] can [[lawsuit|sue]] that person in [[court]] to make them stop. The [[inventor]] can sell the patent to another person or company. A '''patent''' lasts for up to 20 years, depending on the country. After that, anyone can copy the invention. Each country has its own patents. [[China]] gives Chinese patents. [[India]] gives Indian patents. The [[United States]] gives United States patents. An [[inventor]] can get a patent in any country the inventor wants. An inventor can get patents in many different countries for the same invention. Each patent in each country costs money to get. The rules for patents are similar in most countries. ==Getting a patent== To get a patent, the inventor must ask the government by describing the invention in writing. This is called a patent application. The inventor can write the patent application, but it is usually written by a person trained to write patent applications. This person is called a patent agent or, if the person is a [[lawyer]], a patent attorney. The government does not usually just give the inventor a patent. Instead, the government tries to confirm whether the idea is actually new. This is called patent examination. The government will try to find [[book]]s, stories, or other patents that show that the idea was not new. The inventor, or his or her patent attorney, then tries to show how the inventor's idea is actually new and is different from anything that the government finds. If the government finds that the inventor's idea is new, it will give the inventor a patent. The government will also send the inventor a copy of his or her patent application with a special [[Seal (device)|seal]]. This copy is the patent. The inventor must also pay the government a [[tax]] to get a patent. Usually, an inventor pays [[money]] to ask for the patent, and the inventor pays mo