Patent Terms

Updated on : 2020-Dec-02 11:39:41 | Author :

Inventors who hope to monetize or at least protect their inventions will need to get acquainted with the basics of law. This includes working data of the main terms associated with patents. Below a notice associate degree alphabetical list of definitions for frequently used words and phrases related to patents.

 

Abandonment - An application may become abandoned for failure to file a complete and proper reply as required under existing patent laws and laws. Abandonment may be either of the invention or of associate application.

 

Agent - (maybe referred to as a practitioner or representative) One who isn't a lawyer but is authorized to act for or in place of a patent applicant(s) before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

 

Applicant - The inventor or joint inventors who are applying for a patent on their own invention, or the person who is authorized to use for a patent in place of the inventor.

 

Application - An application for patent filed below federal law that features every type of patent application (i.e., utility, design, plant, and reissue) except provisional applications. The nonprovisional application establishes the filing date and initiates the patent examination technique.. A nonprovisional utility application should embrace a specification, as well as a claim or claims; drawings, once necessary; an oath or declaration; and the prescribed filing fee.

 

Assignment - A transfer of possession of an application or patent from one entity to a different. Record all assignments with the USPTO Assignment Services Division to keep up clear title to unfinished patent applications and patents.

 

BPAIIS - Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences data system

 

Cancelled Claim - A patent claim that is canceled or deleted."Canceled" is the status identifier that should be used when a claim is canceled in the identifier application.

 

Certificate of Mailing - A certificate for each piece of correspondence mailed, before the expiration of the set amount of time for response, stating the date of deposit with the U.S. Postal Service and including a signature.

 

Claims - Patent claims outline the invention and are what aspects area unit legally enforceable.The specification must conclude with a claim distinctly saying and clearly claiming the subject matter which the patent applicant regards as his invention or discovery. The claim or claims must conform to the invention as set forth in the remainder of the specification and the terms and phrases employed in the claims must notice clear support or antecedent basis within the description so the meaning of the terms in the claims may be ascertainable (clearly understood ) by reference to the description.

 

Co-Inventor - An inventor who is named with at least one other inventor in a very patent application, wherein every artificer contributes to the conception (creation) of the invention set forth in at least one claim in an application.

 

Combination Patent - A patent granted for an associate invention that unites existing components in a novel manner.

 

Concept - An idea or design.

 

Counterpart - An application filed in an exceedingly|in a very} foreign patent office that is substantially similar to (like) the patent application filed with the USPTO and relies upon some or all of the same invention. The two applications would generally have a constant applicant.

 

Declaration - A document during which a mortal for patent declares, underneath penalty of fine or imprisonment (or both) that (1) he or she is the original or sole creator, (2) shall state of what country he or she is a national, (3) that he or she has reviewed and understands the contents of the specification and claims that the declaration refers to, and (4) acknowledges the duty to disclose info that's material to patentability as defined by federal law.

 

Design Patent Application- An application for a patent to protect against the unauthorized use of new, original, and ornamental designs for articles of Workman.

 

Design Patent - A design patent is also granted to anyone who invents a brand new, original, and decorative design for an article of manufacture.

 

Disclosure Document - A document disclosing an invention and signed by the discoverer or Inventors, that is forwarded to the USPTO only as evidence of the date of conception of the find.

 

Drawing - Patent drawings should show each feature of the invention as laid out in the claims. The omission of drawings may cause an application to be thought-about incomplete but are only required if drawings the subject necessary for the understanding of the topic matter sought to be patented.

 

Element - A discretely claimed element of a patent claim.

 

Enforceability of Patent - the right of the patent owner to bring an infringement suit against a party who, while not permission, makes, uses, or sells the claimed invention. is the enforceability of a patent is that the length of the term of the patent and the six years beneath the statute of limitations for the conveyance of an infringement action.

 

Filing Date - The right of the patent owner to bring an infringement suit against a party who, while not Permission, makes, uses, or sells the claimed invention. Claim, and (2) any required drawings.

 

Independent Claim - A patent demand that does not refer back to or depend on another claim.

 

Invention -  Any art or method (way of doing or making things), the machine, manufacture, design, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, or any variety of plant, that is or could also be patentable beneath the patent laws. 

 

Inventor - One who contributes to the conception of associate degree invention. The patent law of America requires that the applicant in an application must be the inventor.

 

Joint Application - A  patent application in which the invention is bestowed as that of two or additional persons.

 

Joint Inventor - An inventor who is named with at least one other inventor in a very patent application, whereby each inventor contributes to the conception of the invention set forth in at least one claim during a patent application.

 

Multiple Dependent Claim - A dependent patent claims any limits and refers back in the alternative to more than one preceding independent or dependent claim.

 

Non- Provisional Patent Application - An application for a patent that comprises all patent applications (i.e., utility, design, plant, and reissue) except tentative applications.  A nonprovisional utility patent application should embrace a specification, including a claim or claims; drawings, once necessary; an oath or declaration; and also the prescribed filing fee.

 

Non-Obviousness - The subject matter sought to be patented should be sufficiently different from what has been used or delineate before that it may be aforesaid to be non-obvious to a person having normal skill in the space of technology associated with the invention.

 

Oath - A solemn declaration before another, complying with the laws of the state or country wherein which, that the document within which an is the for patent declares that (1) he or she is that the original or sole creator, (2) shall state of what country he or she may be a citizen, (3) that he or she has reviewed and understands the contents of the specification and claims that the declaration refers to, and (4) acknowledges the duty to disclose data that is material to patentability.

 

Original Application - "Original" is used in the patent statute associated rules to refer to an application that isn't a reissue application. an original application may be a primary filing or a continuing application.

 

Parent Application - The term "parent" is applied to an earlier patent application of the inventor revealing a given invention.

 

Patent - A property right granted by the government of u. s. of America to a discoverer "to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the u. s.or mercantilism the invention into the United States" for a restricted time in exchange for public revelation of the invention once the patent is granted.

 

Patent Infringement - Any unauthorized making, using, offering to sell, selling, or commerce into u. s. any patented invention is considered infringement.

 

Patent Number - A unique number assigned to a patent application once it issues as a patent.

 

Patent Pending - A phrase that often seems on factory-made items.It means that somebody has applied for a patent on an invention contained within the manufactured item. It is a warning that a patent may issue that would cover the item which copiers because use caution as a result of they might infringe if the patent issues. Once the patent problems, the patent owner can stop using the phrase "patent pending" and begin employing a phrase like "covered by U.S. Patent variety XXXXXXX." Applying the patent-pending phrase to an item once no patent.

 

Patentable - Suitable to be patented; entitled by law to be protected by the supply of a patent.

 

Plant Patent Application - Applications to protect fancied or discovered asexually reproduced plant varieties.

 

Plant Patent - May be granted to anyone UN agency invents or find out and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of the plant.

 

Practitioner - One United Nations agency stands for or acts on behalf of another. A patent attorney or patent agent could represent the inventors named in a patent application.

 

Prior Art - Any pre-existing data, process, or product within the field or marketplace that can impact the validity (as to novelty or "obviousness") of a patent claim.

 

Restriction - If two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in a single application, the examiner may need the applicant to elect (designate) one invention to which the claims will be restricted (limited to). This requirement is known as a demand for restriction (also known as demand for division).

 

Scope - What is included; as within the scope of a patent

 

Specification - A written statement of the invention and the manner and method of creating and using the same.

 

Substitute Patent Application - An application which is, in essence, a replica of previous|a previous} (earlier filed) application by the same human abandoned before the filing of the substitute (later filed) application; a substitute application does not obtain the benefit of the filing date of the previous application.

 

Term of Art - An expression or phrase that has a defined means when used in a selected context or data environment (such as the patenting process, pharmaceuticals, computers, etc.).

 

Utility Patent Application - A patent application that can be used to protect helpful processes, machines, articles of manufacture, and compositions of matter.

 

Utility Patent - A utility patent may be granted to anyone UN agency invents or discovers any new, useful, and non-obvious process, the machine, article of manufacture, or tracing ofmatter, or any new and, helpful improvement thereof.

 

Withdrawn Patent - An allowed application for patent in which the person files correspondence to withdraw the patent from issue; therefore preventing it from issuing on the patent issue date. The written documents sometimes available on the day of publication, however, is later backward and will not be available in the patent database.


Get Legal Help With Your Patent Today


Patents are vital for shielding your inventions and, ultimately, monetizing those inventions. But patent law can be terribly complicated, so you may need to consider contacting a patent law attorney before filing an application, assigning your patent, or exploring a licensing attorney.
 

 

 

 

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