Which of the following is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for the disclosure of an invention?

Snooping refers to unauthorized interception or monitoring of network traffic or data, and is a security threat, not an intellectual property right.

Copyright protects original creative and artistic works such as literature, software code, or music - not inventions or functional innovations.

A utility model (also called a 'petty patent') is a similar but weaker IP right used in some jurisdictions for minor improvements, and is a subset of patent-like protections, not the primary definition described.

A patent is a form of intellectual property right granted by a government authority that gives the inventor exclusive rights to make, use, and sell the invention for a defined period (typically 20 years). The core bargain is public disclosure of the invention in exchange for that temporary monopoly. This definition precisely matches the question stem.