Patent is a term used to define a right given to someone for an invention or discovery of equipment or product and any new or useful improvement relating to that invention. Other individuals are excluded from making any improvements or revisions to the invention when there is a patent on a product. A patent does not give others the right to use the invention. The government offers patents to inventors as limited property rights; however, the inventor must agree to allow the public the details of their invention. An application for a patent must claim that the invention is new, inventive or can be useful in some way. A patent holder does not have the right to exploit the patent even though a patent is an exclusionary right. An invention cannot have a patent if it is not considered new, meaning it cannot have been patented previously or invented by another person.