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  To obtain a United States patent, an application must be filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). There are three basic types of patent applications: design, utility and plant. Utility patents are further subdivided into two types: provisional and non-provisional. According to the PTO, the majority of patent documents issued are for non-provisional utility patents, which are also referred to as "patents for invention."
  
  

Design

• Design patents protect the aesthetic appearance or decorative aspects of a useful device. They may be issued for original, new and ornamental designs for an article of manufacture such as the visible feature of a light fixture, the ornamental design of a necklace or the look of a handbag. A design patent lasts for 14 years from the grant date of the patent.
  
  

Plant

• Plant patents protect synthetically created plant varieties except for tuber propagated plants or plants discovered in an uncultivated state. They may be issued for newly discovered or invented asexually reproduced plants including cultivated hybrids, new seedlings, and mutants such as a newly created variety of a tomato or an almond tree. A plant patent lasts for 20 years from the filing date of the application.
  
  

Utility

• Utility patents protect new and useful devices, machines, processes (such as new industrial or technical methods), articles of manufacture, a composition of matter (such as chemical compounds or mixtures of ingredients), or a new and useful improvement thereof. Examples of inventions protected by utility patents are kitchen appliances such as a food processor or microwave oven, e-commerce processes such as electronic postage, and pharmaceuticals and medical devices. A utility patent lasts up to 20 years from the filing date of the application.
  
  

Provisional Utility

• A provisional utility patent application is a lower cost, interim application that provides 12 months of protection as a preliminary step to filing a non-provisional patent application. The 12-month period cannot be extended. Provisional utility applications can be filed for any invention that has not been publicly disclosed for more than one year from the filing date. This type of application is often used by inventors who may want more time to test an invention or assess its commercial potential before filing a regular (non-provisional) patent application.
  
  

Non-Provisional Utility

• If an inventor has filed a provisional utility application, a non-provisional patent application must be filed within one year of the provisional patent application or the application will be abandoned. A non-provisional utility application can also be filed directly without having filed a provisional patent application.