How do I find a patent?

• “A patent is an intellectual property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor ‘to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States’ for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.” (The United States Patent and Trademark Office. Inventor Resources. 16 May 2013).
• Here is more information about patents. 
• To learn more about patents, use the navigational links to the left of the screen. 

Things that cannot be patented include:

• Laws of nature
• Physical phenomena
• Abstract ideas
• Literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works (though these can be Copyright protected)
• Inventions which are not useful (such as perpetual motion machines); or are offensive to public morality.

In order to be eligible for a patent, inventions must also be:

• Novel
• Nonobvious
• Adequately described or enabled (for one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention)
• Claimed by the inventor in clear and definite terms

(Information from the USPTO "Patents for Inventors" webpage.)