patentpa·tent1 /ˈpeɪtnt, ˈpæ-ˈpæ-/ noun [countableC]LAW1a legal document giving a person or company the right to make or sell a new invention, product, or method of doing something and stating that no other person or company is allowed to do thisWe believe our patent covers the actual commercial process used in making the new drug.
allegedpatent infringement (=breaking the law by using a product, idea etc without permission)
McAfee has filed a patent (=making it official) for delivering security software as a service over the Web.
2patent pending (also patent applied for) used to say that someone has asked for a patentAlthough the company has a patent pending on its product, it doesn’t plan on keeping it.