Inventions and the creative process

Patents and inventions, while related (in that the former describes the latter), are orthogonal instruments. A patent is merely a legal document that entitles its bearer to an argument. Although it might contain an invention, this isn’t absolutely necessary. Whether it does is generally the subject of the (aforementioned) argument. That’s what lawyers are for. On the other hand, an invention is an abstract instrument created by the mind, and in the (nascent) information age, machines can also create.