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1. A document granting an inventor sole rights to an invention
   - patent of invention
    
2. (law) an official document granting a right or privilege
   - letters patent

1. Obtain a patent for
   "Should I patent this invention?"
    
2. Grant rights to; grant a patent for
    
3. Make open to sight or notice
   "His behaviour has patented an embarrassing fact about him"

1. (of a bodily tube or passageway) open; affording free passage
   "patent ductus arteriosus"
    
2. Clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
   "patent advantages";
   - apparent, evident, manifest, palpable, plain, unmistakable, unmistakeable

Derived forms: patenting, patented, patents

See also: obvious, unobstructed

Type of: alter, change, document, instrument, legal document, legal instrument, modify, official document, papers, procure, register, secure, written document

Encyclopedia: Patent