Parent Application: A non-provisional patent application of an
inventor disclosing a given invention.
Patent Agent: A person who is not an attorney who can legally
represent an inventor or applicant in dealing with a patent office.
Patent Application: A document filed by an inventor or applicant with
a patent office that discloses and claims an invention and that requests that
the patent office grant the inventor or applicant the right to exclude others
from practicing the invention.
Patent Attorney: A person who is an attorney who can legally represent
an inventor or applicant in dealing with a patent office.
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): There are currently 108
contracting states to this treaty (as of June 2000). The PCT system offers an
advantageous route for international patent protection with reduced costs. There
are currently 96 signatories to this treaty. Contracting states may file an
international application designating member states. If an applicant wants to
press for grant in any of their designated states the patent application is
moved to the national phase but may carry the PCT priority filing date.
Patent Family: All the patent application and patent documents that
relate to he same invention regardless of the patent office involved. The patent
family concept is used in patent searching.
Patent Law: The laws governed by the United States Patent and
Trademark Office in order to grant rights providing sole ownership of an
invention to the inventor. The owner of a patent is granted the right to exclude
others from making, using, offering for sale or selling the invention in the
U.S. or importing the invention into the U.S.
Patent Marking: Patent Marking means to mark a patent-pending item.
Marking gives a potential infringer notice of the fact that a patent is pending
or has issued. Marking an invention "Patent Pending" is not allowed in some
countries. The marking can be either on the item or on its packaging.
Patent Number: The number assigned to an issued patent by a patent
office.
Patent Owner: A patent owner owns the patent property rights.
Patent Pending: The condition that occurs between the time that a
patent application has been filed on an invention and the deposition of that
application either by abandonment of the application or issue of the patent.
Patent Search: A study of the patent literature to determine the state
of the art in a particular field; a study of the patent literature in a
particular field to determine whether the prior art in the field renders a
particular invention anticipated or obvious, and, hence, not able to receive a
patent.
Patent Term: This is the period of time during which a patent is
valid.
Patent Watch: The process of continuously monitoring newly published
patent applications and issued patents in a particular field.
Patent: A grant by the federal government to an inventor of the right
to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing a
patented invention. Patents that cover structural or functional aspects of
products, composition, and processes are utility patents. Other types of patents
include design patents covering ornamental designs of useful objects and plant
patents covering new varieties of living plants.
Patentability: The ability of an invention to satisfy the legal
requirements for obtaining a patent, including novelty. In some countries
certain types of inventions, such as computer software and plants, may be able
to receive a patent.
Patentable Subject Matter: An invention that is capable of being
patented.
Patentable: Capable of being patented in a particular
jurisdiction.
Patentee: The inventor to whom the patent is granted and all persons
to whom the patent is subsequently assigned. The term is slightly broader than
the owner of the patent as the inventor would still be considered a patentee
even if he or she has assigned his or her invention to someone else.
Pending Patent Application: This is a patent application that is
pending.
Pending: The period of time in which the patent office has not yet
decided whether to reject or to grant a patent application. During this time the
patent application has also not yet been withdrawn.
Person Skilled in the Art: A fictitious person who has knowledge of
all prior art and who has ordinary skill in the art to which the invention
pertains.
Petition for Certiorari: A petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to
review the decision of a lower court.
Petition for Extension of Time: A petition requesting an extension of
the time period for response to an Office action. Payment of a fee is sometimes
required.
Petition to Revive: A petition that a patent application be revived
from either unintentional or unavoidable abandonment.
Petition: A written communication to a higher authority within a
patent office seeking review of a decision of an Examiner concerning other than
the rejection of a claim.
Pioneer Invention: An invention that breaks new ground in a
technological art or that creates a new art.
Pioneer Patent: A patent on an invention that breaks new ground in a
technological art or that creates a new art.
Preamble: The formal introductory clause of a patent claim. Depending
on the circumstances, the preamble may or may not define a narrowing element of
the claim. The preamble usually only defines the setting or context in which the
elements of the claim appear. As a Jepson claim preamble sets forth the setting
of the new invention, the use of Jepson format results in an implied admission
that what is recited in the preamble is known in the prior art.
Precedent: A legal decision that serves as an example or rule upon
which a subsequent decision can be based.
Preferred Embodiment: The preferred embodiment of an invention can
usually be interpreted as being recited as the best mode known to the inventor
of carrying out the invention.
Prejudgment Interest: In patent litigation, prejudgment interest is
interest on monetary judgment against an infringer awarded to a prevailing party
measured from the date of the infringement to the date of the judgment.
Prejudgment interest should be available on damages measured both by lost
profits and reasonable royalty.
Preliminary Amendment: An amendment to a patent application filed
simultaneously with the filing of the patent application or an amendment to a
patent application filed before the Examiner mails the first action on the
merits of the application.
Preliminary Examination Report: A report notifying an applicant of the
results of an International Preliminary Examination.
Preliminary Examination: The initial study of an application by
an official in the patent office to check that the specification is properly
arranged and for preparing search reports.
Preliminary Statement: In an interference proceeding, a statement made
under oath that sets out who made an invention and where and when it was made.
Presumption of Validity: A presumption created by statute that a
patent is legitimate and sound-in-law. The burden of establishing that a patent
is invalid is always on the challenger. The burden of proof on the challenger is
to prove invalidity by clear and convincing evidence.
Prima Facie: Latin for "on its face." Sufficient evidence to raise a
presumption of fact, unless rebutted.
Printed Matter: A publication.
Prior Art Reference: A citation of prior art.
Prior Art: Technology that was available prior to either the date of
invention or the filing date of the application, depending on the patent office
rule under consideration. Availability can be based on such factors as public
use, secret sale, publication, public knowledge, etc. depending on the patent
law of the jurisdiction in which the patent is being sought.
Prior Public Use: Display of an unpatented invention under
circumstances in which the invention enters the public domain.
Prior-Art Statement: Also known as an information disclosure
statement, this is a document filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by
the applicant during the prosecution of a patent application. The statement
lists the prior art known by the applicant and/or his or her attorneys that is
thought by them to be material to the patentability of the claims.
Priority Date: The filing date of the first patent application
disclosing an invention, which filing date has occurred no more than 12 months
before the filing date of a later-filed patent application claiming the priority
date of the first application.
Priority Document: A certified copy of a patent application filed no
more than 12 months before the filing date of the later-filed application
claiming the priority date of the earlier-filed application.
Priority: The quality or state of being prior.
Pro se Applicant: An applicant for patent who is representing
themselves.
Process: A method of making something, a process of operating
something or a process of using something. Under U.S. law, this is one of the
statutory classes of inventions.
Product By Process Claim: A patent claim that describes a product
invention by describing the process that is used to make it.
Product of Nature: A thing occurring in nature that is substantially
unaltered by Man. An essentially pure culture of a microorganism does not occur
in nature and is not, therefore, a product of nature. Neither is a
genetically-engineered organism a product of nature.
Product: A machine, an article of manufacture or a composition of
matter.
Profits: Direct recovery of the patent infringer's profits is not
possible in a case of infringement of a utility patent, but may, under proper
circumstances, be employed as a measure of the patentee's damages.
Prolix Claim: A claim that contains long recitations or unimportant
details which render the claim indefinite.
Property: An object of ownership whereby the owner can exclude others
from its enjoyment.
Proprietary Information: Information that is not generally known and
that has competitive value.
Prosecution History Estoppel: This is synonymous with file wrapper
estoppel.
Prosecution History: The history of the prosecution of a patent
application.
Prosecution: The administrative process of obtaining a patent from the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Prosecution includes filing the application
with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, office actions, amending the
application in response to objections and rejections from the examiner,
responding to objections and rejections without amendment to the application,
telephone and personal interviews with the examiner, appeals, and timely payment
of the appropriate fees.
Protest: A communication by a member of the public to a patent office
arguing and providing evidence that the granting of a patent would be improper.
Provisional Application: As a result of GATT, an applicant can file a
patent specification complying with U.S. disclosure standards and get the filing
date as a priority date for a complete patent application filed within one year
thereafter claiming the benefit. The provisional application does not have to
contain claims. The effective filing date of the full application for purposes
of avoiding prior art will be the filing date of the provisional application,
but will have the benefit of the date of filing the full application for
purposes of the 20 year patent term.
Public Sale: A sale or offer to sell an invention to a member of the
public. A sale need not be public to bar a patent under U.S. law.
Public Use: A public or commercial use of an invention. If the public
use occurred more than one year before the filing date of the patent
application, obtaining a U.S. patent would be barred. If a use is experimental,
then it is not a public use. Sometimes experimental use is referred to an
exception to the public-use bar.
Publication: Documents, including patents of most countries that are
printed (published) and are actually or presumptively available to the
public.
Published Application: A patent application that has been
published by a patent office before its issue.
