utility patent

In United States patent law, utility is a patentability requirement. Today, the utility requirement is the lowest bar and is easily met. Largely utility is used to prevent the patenting of inoperative devices such as perpetual motion machines. Utility is required by the patent law: 35 U.S.C. 101, "inventions patentable", and 35 U.S.C. 112, "specification".
See more at Wikipedia.org...

may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new, useful, and nonobvious process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof.

-- see also patent

Context: Patent