As stated on the website for the United States Patent and Trademark Office: (www.uspto.gov)

A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Generally, the term of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States. The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and of the grant itself, "the right 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". What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention.

The two most common types of patents are:

Utility patents may be granted to one who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or compositions of matters, or any new useful improvement thereof.

Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.

LightGuard Systems, Inc. is the holder of several U.S. Patents, including Utility Patent #6,384,742 B1 issued May 7, 2002 for "Pedestrian Crosswalk Signal Apparatus - Pedestrian Crosswalk". This patent excludes other companies from legally manufacturing and distributing in-roadway warning light systems for crosswalks in the United States. It also secures LightGuard Systems' market position as the only licensed manufacturer of the systems.