The Reason the Statue of Liberty Has Its Own Patent

February 18, 1879 Auguste Bartholdi was granted a design patent for the Statue of Liberty.
Although when you hear patent you might think “invention,” the kind of patent that Bartholdi help for it is called a design patent, and in the words of the United States Patent and Trademark Office serves to allow the owner to “exclude others from making, using, or selling the design.” (Another iconic New York image, the I Heart New York logo, is trademarked, not patented.)
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/statute-liberty-was-once-patented-180962158/
http://patentadesign.com/gallery/statue-of-liberty-design-patent.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty