What Patents Protect and What They Do Not

This lesson defines what a patent can protect and, just as important, what it cannot. Students learn the difference between protecting an invention and protecting a business idea, brand, creative work, discovery, or general concept.

The lesson focuses on practical classification: utility patents for functional inventions, design patents for ornamental appearance, and plant patents for certain asexually reproduced plants. It also introduces the core boundaries of patent eligibility, including abstract ideas, laws of nature, natural phenomena, and inventions that are not sufficiently new or useful.