Patents And Trademarks

[Timothy]

is there a patent for the term "patent" and are the trademark signs(?,®) truly registered trademarks?

[abraham90]

You can't patent a word, as far as I know, so the term "patent" can't be patented. It may be trademarked, but I don't know if it is. I don't know if the symbols are trademarked either, but my guess is that they are protected by a law , not a trademark. Interesting question!