What are Utility, Design, and Plant patents?

There are actually three basic types of patents you may file with the patent office.  They are as follows:

1. Utility:  When most people think of patents they think of utility patents.  A utility patent protects the invention of a new and useful (i) processes, (ii) machines, (iii) articles of manufacture, (iv) formulas, or (v) a new and useful improvement of i - iv.  The non-provisional version of the utility patent permits the owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention.  Approximately 90% of the patent documents issued by the patent office in recent years have been utility patents, also referred to as "patents for invention".  There are two kinds of utility patents: provisional and non-provisional available:  
   1. Provisional Utility Patent:  Provides a basic level of protection for an invention for a period of one year from its filing date in exchange for some simplicity.  For more information on provisional utility patents please see my FAQ.
   2. Non-provisional Utility Patent:  A very complex document that provides the full range of patent protection for a period of up to twenty years from the date of patent application filing upon grant.  For more information on non-provisional utility patents please see my FAQ.
2. Design:  Following utility patents, design patents are the most commonly issued patents.  Design patents are used to protect new, original, and ornamental designs embodied in or applied to an article of manufacture and generally permits the owner of the patent to exclude others from making, using, or selling the design for a term of fifteen years from the date of grant.  For more information on design patents please see my FAQ.
3. Plant:  Plant patents are rather unusual.  Plant patents are used to protect a new and distinct, invented or discovered asexually reproduced plant including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found seedlings, other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state, it permits its owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling the plant for a period of up to twenty years from the date of patent application filing.