Norman Anderson, age 9, of Canfield, Ohio, for his question:

WHAT IS A PATENT?

A patent is a document that is issued by a nation's government which grants an inventor the exclusive right to his invention for a limited time.

With a patent, an inventor is able to prevent others from making, selling or using his invention in every country in which it is patented.

In the United States, all patents except design patents give the inventor control over his invention for 17 years. Design patents are issued for three and a half, seven or 14 years. The U.S. Patent and Trademark office takes an average of two years to issue a patent. It takes so long because more than 100,000 applications a year are received and each must be examined thoroughly and carefully. A "Patent Pending'' is issued while the check is being made.