A patent, sometimes called a patent specification, is a document that provides the legal basis for a patent application. A patent describes an invention or abstract idea that the patent office has approved as having obviousness, i.e., it is supposed to be self-evident to a person considering the product or technology from which it is designed and sold that the invention does what the patent application claims it will do. The invention should also be reasonable according to the law and the goals of the company bringing the product or technology into the market. In the United States, to apply for a patent an invention must be claimed in an appropriate manner by way of describing the product or technology that the company wishes to patent.

A utility patent, sometimes called a first patent, is a new type of patent that was created in the prior art to an invention. A utility patent simply describes an invention in terms of what a person would get from making the invention, as opposed to describing an invention in terms of what it is capable of doing. The patent examiner will consider whether a product or technology is new and whether it meets the requirements for patentability. If it satisfies the test for patentability, then it is issued a patent.

A defensive publication is not a patent, but a patent application that has been issued but has not yet been published with respect to the date of filing. A defensive publication is different from a non Defensive Publication in that it is issued after an invention is filed, but it is not necessary to have an issued patent for it to qualify as a defensive publication under the Patent Law. Thus, a person can still patent a defensive publication if the invention was disclosed legally and the general public had access to it prior to the filing of the patent.

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