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  • patent office
    patent office
    noun
    a governmental agency that administers and regulates patents and trademarks, in the U.S. forming a division of the Department of Commerce.
  • Patent Office
    Patent Office
    noun
    a government department that issues patents

patent office

American  

noun

  1. (often initial capital letters) a governmental agency that administers and regulates patents and trademarks, in the U.S. forming a division of the Department of Commerce.


Patent Office British  
/ ˈpætənt /

noun

  1. Pat. Off. a government department that issues patents

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

On Sept. 29, the U.S. patent office published a Tesla patent for a series of ducted fans that improve stability during braking and increase speed around corners.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Attorney Kevin Yorn, who represents McConaughey, said the aim of filing with the patent office was "to make sure that our clients have the same kind of protections that their businesses have."

From Barron's ● Jan. 15, 2026

After lower courts sided with the patent office, Thaler took his appeal to the Supreme Court, where a panel of judges unanimously dismissed the case.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2023

The fight with MGH’s patent office dragged on for years, long after the patents were licensed to drug company Novo Nordisk and it was deep in its GLP-1 drug development program.

From Science Magazine ● Sep. 8, 2023

Physicists as a rule are not overattentive to the pronouncements of Swiss patent office clerks, and so, despite the abundance of useful tidings, Einstein’s papers attracted little notice.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

The Patent Office suspended Tesla’s application due to Unibev’s earlier French filing, and Unibev previously secured other seemingly Tesla-related trademarks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 16, 2026

Patent Office for that spelling, which is still pending.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2024

Patent Office agricultural records from 1843 to 1845 to show how the pathogen first spread across the northeast United States before causing the devastating famine in Ireland in 1845.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 15, 2024

It named the father of the bride, Elisha Foote, and described him as the head of the Appeal Board at the Patent Office.

From Scientific American ● Nov. 9, 2023

As he continued east on F, he approached two of Washington’s greatest landmarks: to the left, the huge marble Patent Office.

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson

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