patent right

noun

|Updated on: 29 May 2018

Definition of patent right

: a right granted by letters patent; especially : the exclusive right to an invention

Recent Examples of patent right from the Web

Thanks to the tight control Edison exercised over patent rights, all but one of them had to pay license fees to use Edison’s movie cameras and other equipment.

— Longreads, "When the Movies Went West," 15 May 2018
While the argument was officially over the difference between the executive and judicial branch, this was really a dispute about the nature of patent rights.

— timothy b. lee, Ars Technica, "Supreme Court upholds patent review process, dealing trolls a blow," 24 Apr. 2018
Take Allergan, which has attracted bipartisan scrutiny for transferring patent rights for a drug to a Native American tribe in hopes of avoiding a legal challenge.

— erin mershon, STAT, "Congress loves shaming CEOs. So why hasn’t pharma been put on the hot seat?," 28 Mar. 2018
Adding to patients’ woes, pharmaceutical companies have extended patent rights on blockbuster drugs to limit competition.

— sujata srinivasan, courant.com, "Rising Rx Prices Forcing Critical Choices; States May Be Last Hope For Consumers," 21 Mar. 2018
One reason for early concerns about these post-grant procedures is that the invalidation rate appeared to be so high, patent rights seemed downright ephemeral.

— rochelle c. dreyfuss, Slate Magazine, "Should the Patent and Trademark Office Be Allowed to Change Its Mind?," 21 June 2017
Rohwedder’s seemingly booming business was affected by the Great Depression, and he was forced to sell his patent rights to a larger company, who kept him on as staff.

— kat eschner, Smithsonian, "Take a Look at the Patents Behind Sliced Bread," 7 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'patent right.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.