Patent Glossary (A-D)

Abandonment:
A patent application becomes abandoned for failure to file a complete and proper reply as the condition of the application may require within the time period provided under 37 CFR § 1.134 and § 1.136 unless an Office action indicates otherwise.

Abstract of the disclosure
A concise statement of the technical disclosure including that which is new in the art to which the invention pertains

Administrative Instructions
Set out the provisions and requirements in relation to the filing and processing of the international (patent) application under the PCT and are established by the Director General of WIPO

ADS
Application Data Sheet

Agent (patent)
(May be referred to as a practitioner or representative) - one who is not an attorney but is authorized to act for or in place of the applicant(s) before the Office, that is, an individual who is registered to practice before the Office.

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Regards
PP
AIPA
American Inventors Protection Act of 1999

Application number (patent)
The unique number assigned to a patent application when it is filed. The application number includes a two digit series code and a six digit serial number

Applicant
Inventor or joint inventors who are applying for a patent on their own invention, or the person mentioned in 37 CFR 1.42, 1.43 or 1.47 who is applying for a patent in place of the inventor.

Application (patent)
An application for patent filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) that includes all types of patent applications (i.e., utility, design, plant, and reissue) except provisional applications. The nonprovisional application establishes the filing date and initiates the examination process. A nonprovisional utility patent application must include a specification, including a claim or claims; drawings, when necessary; an oath or declaration; and the prescribed filing fee.

Assignment
A transfer of ownership of a patent application or patent from one entity to another. Record all assignments with the USPTO Assignment Services Division to maintain clear title to pending patent applications and patents.

Attorney
(May be referred to as a practitioner or representative) - an individual who is a member in good standing of the bar of any United States court or the highest court of any State and who is registered to practice before the Office.

Benefit claim
The claiming by an applicant in a nonprovisional application of a benefit of an invention disclosed in a prior-filed copending (under examination at the same time) provisional or nonprovisional application, or international application designating the U.S. for the purposes of securing an earlier-effective filing date for the nonprovisional application.

Bio-sequence listings
A document that must be included only if a nucleotide or amino acid sequence is part of the invention. With EFS, paper documents are not required for bio-sequence or subsequent bio-sequence submissions.

BPAI
Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

BPAIIS
Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences Information System

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

Certificate of mailing
A certificate for each piece of correspondence mailed, prior to the expiration of the set period of time for response, stating the date of deposit with the U.S. Postal Service and including a signature

Chapter I
The first, mandatory phase under the Patent Cooperation Treaty that includes performance of an international-type search, issuance of an International Search Report, and publication of the application and Search Report by the International Bureau of WIPO

Chapter II
The second, optional phase under the Patent Cooperation Treaty that includes examination of the international application and issuance of an International Preliminary Examination Report.

CIP
Continuation-in-Part

Claims
Define the invention and are what aspects are legally enforceable. The specification must conclude with a claim particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the 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 used in the claims must find clear support or antecedent basis in the description so that the meaning of the terms in the claims may be ascertainable (clearly understood ) by reference to the description. (See 37 CFR § 1.58(a)).

Classification
Patents are classified (organized) in the U.S. by a system using a 3 digit class and a 3 digit subclass to describe every similar grouping of patent art. A single invention may be described by multiple classification codes.

Coinventor
An inventor who is named with at least one other inventor in a patent application, wherein each inventor contributes to the conception (creation) of the invention set forth in at least one claim in a patent application.

Combination patent
A patent granted for an invention that unites existing components in a novel way

Common inventor
An inventor whose name is listed on multiple patent applications or granted patents, making the inventions at least partially the work of the same person.

Confirmation number
A four-digit number that is assigned to each newly filed patent application. 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 of an application due to a transposition error (misplaced digits) in the application number. The Office recommends that applicants include the application's confirmation number (in addition to the application number) on all correspondence submitted to the Office concerning the application.

Contracting State
A national Office or an intergovernmental organization which is party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Continuation
A second application for the same invention claimed in a prior nonprovisional application and filed before the first application becomes abandoned or patented

Continuing application
A continuation, divisional, or continuation-in-part patent application

Control No.
Unique number assigned to a patent reexamination request when it is filed, having a 2-digit series code (90 for ex parte reexamination requests; 95 for inter partes reexamination requests), and a 6-digit control number.

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

CRU
Central Reexamination Unit

Customer number
(Previously referred to as "payor number") - a number assigned by the Office that is used to simplify the submission of an address change, to appoint a practitioner, or to designate the fee address for a patent. Customer numbers are primarily used by attorneys and law firms, and must be requested using the "Request for Customer Number" form (PTO/SB/125).

Deceased inventor
A named inventor who has died prior to the filing of a patent application or during the prosecution of a patent application.

Declaration
a document in which an applicant for patent declares, under penalty of fine or imprisonment, or both (18 USC 1001), that (1) he or she is the original or sole inventor, (2) shall state of what country he or she is a citizen, (3) that he or she has reviewed and understands the contents of the specification and claims which the declaration refers to, and (4) acknowledges the duty to disclose information that is material to patentability as defined by 37 CFR § 1.56. An oath or declaration must be filed in each nonprovisional patent application.

Demand
Form PCT/IPEA/401, filed with an International Preliminary Examining Authority, demanding that an international application shall be the subject of an international preliminary examination.

Dependent claim
A claim that refers back to (depends on) and further limits a preceding dependent or independent claim. A dependent claim shall include every limitation of the claim from which it depends.

Design patent application
An application for a patent to protect against the unauthorized use of new, original, and ornamental designs for articles of manufacture

Design patent
May be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture

Designation
An indication made by applicant, in the Request for an International Application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, as to the Contracting States in which protection for an invention is desired.

Disclaimer
A patentee, whether of the whole or any sectional interest therein, may, on payment of the fee required by law, make disclaimer (give up all or part of the owner's rights to enforce claims) of any complete claim , stating therein the extent of their interest in such patent. Such disclaimers are required to be in writing and recorded in the USPTO, and are considered as part of the original patent to the extent of the interest actually possessed by the disclaimant and by those claiming under him. Any patentee or applicant may disclaim or dedicate to the public the entire term, or any terminal part of the term (from a certain point in time through the projected end of the entire term), of the patent granted or to be granted. There are two types of disclaimers: a statutory disclaimer and a terminal disclaimer.

Disclosure
In return for a patent, the inventor gives as consideration a complete revelation (describes it) or disclosure of the invention for which protection is sought.

Disclosure document
The USPTO eliminated its Disclosure Document Program on February 1, 2007. For more information, see the Federal Register notice: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/sol/notices/71fr64636.pdf [PDF].

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.

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. The essential objective inquiry is: “Does the accused product or process contain elements identical or equivalent to each claimed element of the patented invention?”

Drawing
Patent drawings must show every feature of the invention as specified in the claims. Omission of drawings may cause an application to be considered incomplete but are only required if drawings are necessary for the understanding of the subject matter sought to be patented.