A patent is a right to monopolize an invention. A would-be inventor specifies the scope of activities from which he wants to exclude others (the claims), and submits it to the Patent Office. Patent Office evaluates whether these claims depict an invention within the sense of the Patent law and whether the invention is correctly disclosed and industrially applicable (formal examination). Some patent offices will moreover examine whether the invention is new and non-obvious (substantive examination). If the application passes the examination hurdles, the Patent Office grants the applicant exclusive rights to produce and market the invention for a period of 20 years