What is a patent?

A Patent is a temporary monopoly, granted by the State to the Proprietor of an invention, in return for his disclosing his invention to the Public through the Patent Office. When a Patent is granted, a full description of the invention is made available to the Public but the Patentee has the sole right to make use of the invention, or to authorise others to make use of it, for as long as he keeps the Patent in force. The maximum term of a Patent is 20 years.

The Grant of a Patent does not imply that the Patentee will derive any financial reward from it. That will depend on whether the Patentee is able to make profitable use of the invention, either by working the invention himself or by licensing others to do so in exchange for royalty payments.