A government backed, time limited monopoly granted to inventors on their inventions. It was intended as an incentive to publish business secrets.
The concept is nowadays of disputable worth, and has turned 
patently absurd in the US. The USPTO is obviously run by a bunch of plonkers.
Modern patents are normally held by large organisations, such as IBM and RedHat.
See also:
Part of CategoryLegalese
5 pages link to Patent:
