DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 patent office
 專利局

 Pat·ent a.
 1.
 Note: (Oftener pronounced in this sense) Open; expanded; evident; apparent; unconcealed; manifest; public; conspicuous.
    He had received instructions, both patent and secret.   --Motley.
 2. Open to public perusal; -- said of a document conferring some right or privilege; as, letters patent. See Letters patent, under 3d Letter.
 3. Appropriated or protected by letters patent; secured by official authority to the exclusive possession, control, and disposal of some person or party; patented; as, a patent right; patent medicines.
    Madder . . . in King Charles the First's time, was made a patent commodity.   --Mortimer.
 4. Bot. Spreading; forming a nearly right angle with the steam or branch; as, a patent leaf.
 Patent leather, a varnished or lacquered leather, used for boots and shoes, and in carriage and harness work.
 Patent office, a government bureau for the examination of inventions and the granting of patents.
 Patent right. (a) The exclusive right to an invention, and the control of its manufacture. (b) Law The right, granted by the sovereign, of exclusive control of some business of manufacture, or of the sale of certain articles, or of certain offices or prerogatives.
 Patent rolls, the registers, or records, of patents.

 Patent Office
      n : the government bureau in the Department of Commerce that
          keeps a record of patents and trademarks and grants new
          ones [syn: Patent and Trademark Office Database]