A patent is a territorial exclusive right to intellectual property. With a patent, the owner can prohibit others from commercializing the protected invention. For understanding patents, it is useful to distinguish these from other intellectual property rights.

Patents v.s. other IP rights

Patents protect inventions which provide a technical solution for a technical problem. The technical solution can be a device with particular features, or a process with process steps.

A trademark consists of a sign (e.g. logo, text, sound) and an associated list products and services. Trademarks are non-technical IP rights, which serve the purpose of informing about the origin of a product or service. Companies utilize trademarks in a targeted manner, by which consumers can associate products with a particular quality and origin.

Designs can be protected by design patents, which do not protect a technical solution but non-technical aspects defining the look and feel of a product. It protects the visual characteristics of a product, including its shape, configuration, surface ornamentation, or pattern. Design patents focus solely on the aesthetic aspects of a design and do not cover the functional or technical features of the product.

While patents, (most) trade marks, and designs must be registered with an office, copyrights play a unique role in this respect. Even though a registration of a copyright is advisable, a copyright arises with the creation of a work and belongs to the creator. Copyright is a type of intellectual property right that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression, and it gives the owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform the work, usually for a limited time. However, copyright does not protect ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, or discoveries; it only protects the expression of these elements.

Type of IP	Subject Matter	Maximum lifetime	Registration Required
Patents	Technical inventions	20 years	Yes
Trademarks	Signs, logos, brands	Renewable indefinitely	Yes
Designs	Product appearance	Varies by jurisdiction	Yes
Copyright	Creative works	Life + 70 years	No

So why patents? Whats the deal?

When you get a patent, the state grants you a monopoly for up to 20 years, which means you are the only allowed to commercially use the patented invention. On one hand there is the patent office that grants the patents (monopolies), and on the other hand there are anti trust authorities that aim to prevent monopolies. How does that fit together?

The justification of a patent lies in its publication. The goal of the patent system is to make insights about technological advancements more transparent to the public. The increased transparency should allow more people to build on each others research, which is supposed to accelerate the technical advancements. In other words, by publishing patent applications, it is avoided that multiple companies secretly develop the same technology in parallel. It is better for the economy if the knowledge only has to be researched once and then other researchers and market participants can build on this knowledge. Hence the "deal" of a patent is the owner of the patent agrees to publish the developed technology, and in return the owner of the patent receives the exclusive rights to commercialize the invention.

To balance the interest of the patent owner and the public, a patent is limited to 20 years, and the owner must pay renewal fees. The renewal fees become more expensive over time, to force the patent owner reconsidering if the protection is still worth the renewal costs, because the generally preferable option is not having the market blocked by granted patents.