Patent Terms and Definitions

Abandon: The explicit or implicit relinquishment of a potential patent right. Simple inaction may render a patent right abandoned

Affidavit: A signed statement (filed with the patent office) putting appropriate facts or opinions on record.

Author: Writer of an article, chapter or other complete work. Some articles, proceedings, or books have multiple authors. In such cases, the first author specified in the reference may be called the primary author or the senior author. The names of the authors following that of the primary author are referred to as the secondary or co-authors. Corporations, government agencies and associations may also be listed as authors of a work.

Basic Patent: The first published patent

Beilstein: A major structure and factual database in organic chemistry.

C?: Clinical Unknown Phase from IDdb. In clinical development, but the phase is unknown.

C1: Phase I (IDdb). Initial toxicity testing in healthy volunteers (except for drugs that are potential treatments for life-threatening diseases such as cancer and HIV, which go straight into subjects suffering from the target disease).

C2: Phase II (IDdb). Small-scale testing in the target population, to assess therapeutic effects and to establish dose levels for phase III trials.

C3: Phase III (IDdb). Large-scale trials in patients, usually at several centers, double blind and randomized. May also be compared to other agents.

Citation: the examiner or author may make Citations. They comprise a list of references that are believed to be relevant prior art and which may have contributed to the "narrowing" of the original application. The examiner can also cite references from technical journals, textbooks, handbooks and sources.

Citation Counts: Citation counts are a formal acknowledgement of intellectual debt to earlier patents and previously published scientific research papers. They are an important indicator of how new patents are linked to earlier patents and scientific papers.

Claim(s): The definition of the monopoly rights that the applicant is trying to obtain for the invention. The claims become the actual monopoly that is given when/if the patent is granted.

Copyright: The legal right granted to an author, editor or publisher of an article, chapter or complete work. Copyright applies to intellectual property in a variety of artistic fields and attempts to be format-neutral.

Defensive publication: A publication and disclosure to the public of a pending patent application.

Design Patent: A type of patent covering the shape characteristics of an object

Disclosure: The first public disclosure of details of an invention. This may be: deliberately revealed outside the patent system to make the invention unpatentable, or what is described in a patent application

First to file: The applicant who is the first to file an application for an invention will be awarded the patent over all others. This law is becoming increasingly the standard for countries adhering to Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs) guidelines.

First to invent: In some countries, the applicant who is the first to invent will be awarded the patent over all others.

Infringe: To make, use or sell the patented item or process within the country covered by the patent, without permission or license from the patentee.

Intellectual property: Intellectual property refers to creations — including inventions, artistic works, names and designs — that are legally protected. Intellectual property includes patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets

Inventor: Inventor names are recorded for all patents. These appear in the standard last name-initial(s) format.

Novel: A patent must be new or original. That is, the invention must never have been made in public in any way, anywhere, before the date on which the application for a patent is filed.

Novelty: The concept that the claims must be totally new. The invention must never have been made public in any way, anywhere, before the date on which the application for a patent is filed.

Patent: A patent is a document that defines the right by law for inventors and assignees to make use of and exploit their inventions for a limited period of time.

Pending: The period in which the patent office has not yet decided whether to reject or to grant a patent application, and it has not yet been withdrawn.

Status: The legal standing of a patent or patent application, i.e. whether it is pending, lapsed or still protected etc.

Term of patent: The maximum number of years that the monopoly rights conferred by the grant of a patent may last

Notice of Allowance and Fees Due NOA, a notification to the applicant that they are entitled to a patent under the law and requesting payment of a specified issue fee within three months from the mailing date of the notice of allowance. Divisional Application A later application for an independent or distinct invention disclosing and claiming (only a portion of and) only subject matter disclosed in the earlier or parent application. CIP Continuation-in-Part - an application filed during the lifetime of an earlier nonprovisional application, repeating some substantial portion or all of the earlier nonprovisional application. Confirmation Number The confirmation number, in combination with the application number, is used to verify the accuracy of the application number placed on correspondence filed with the Office to avoid misidentification. Common Law Rights Property or other legal rights that do not absolutely require formal registration in order to enforce them. Proving such rights for a trademark in court can be very difficult. Pro Se Used to designate an independent inventor who has elected to file an application by themselves without the services of a licensed representative. Doctrine Of Equivalents A judicially created theory for finding patent infringement when the accused process or product falls outside the literal scope of the patent claims. Precautionary Designation Designation of a Contracting State in an international application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty which must be confirmed prior to 15 months from the priority date. ABM Activity based management - a management methodology that combines ABC with business process analysis techniques to run, improve and measure performance for a business. Fastener Quality Act Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C. 5401 et seq., as amended by Public Law 104-113, Public Law 105-234, and Public Law 106-34); implementing regulations: 15 C.F.R. Part 280.

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	Did You Know?
	Your invention may already be patented. Public users may perform preliminary searches of patent information in a variety of formats including on-line, microfilm, and print at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Public Search Facility located in Alexandria, VA. State of the art computer workstations provide automated searching of patents issued from 1790 to the current week of issue. Full document text may be searched on U.S. patents issued since 1971 and OCR text from 1920 to 1970. U.S. patent images from 1790 to the present may be retrieved for viewing or printing. Some foreign patent documents are available.