There are three different types of patents for which an inventor may apply:

• Utility Patent: This patent is issued for a new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof.
• Design Patent: Design patents are issued to any person who has invented any new and nonobvious ornamental design for an article of manufacture.
• Plant Patent: As its name implies, a plant patent is issued to anyone who has invented or discovered and asexually reproduced any distinct and new variety of plant, including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found seedlings, other than a tuber-propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state.