patented

1. 1
   adjective

   Covered by a patent that has officially been granted to the inventor or owner.

   Like a deed to land, but for an idea: it records who holds the right to use it.

   The factory relies on a patented process to make its batteries last longer.

   Because the formula is patented, competitors must license it before using it.

   Similarpatent

   Oppositeunpatented, generic, nonpatented, free

   Note

   A grant is all-or-nothing, so the adjective does not compare: a process is patented or it is not. Its opposites split two ways. Unpatented and nonpatented simply mark that no grant exists, while generic, open, free and libre describe things nobody may lock up at all. Before a noun (a patented formula) it is this adjective; with a date or agent (patented in 2019) it is usually the past participle.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of patent.

   The company patented a new battery technology in 2019.

   Edison patented over a thousand inventions during his lifetime.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs: the simple past (she patented the design) and the participle that builds perfect and passive forms (the design has been patented). It carries every sense of the verb. That includes the figurative one of making something so much your own that others are shut out, and the historical American use for securing a grant of ownership over land, as in patenting a tract.

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