Which statement about patents is true?

• A. A patent gives its owner the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, and importing an invention for a limited period of time
• B. A patent is a symbol that identifies goods
• C. A patent is a copyright registration
• D. A patent is a domain name registration

Answer: (C)

Patents grant the owner the exclusive right to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing the invention for a limited period. This exclusion right is what distinguishes patent protection from other forms of intellectual property. The idea is to incentivize invention by granting temporary monopoly rights in exchange for disclosure of the invention to the public. Patents are usually territorial and often last about 20 years from filing, subject to maintenance requirements.

The other descriptions refer to different tools: a symbol identifying goods is a trademark, which protects branding instead of the invention itself; copyright protects original works of authorship rather than functional inventions; and domain name registration concerns internet addresses, not patent rights.