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Patent Caveat
A patent caveat, often shortened to caveat, was a legal document filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, United States Patent Office. History Caveats were instituted by the US Patent Act of 1836, U.S. Patent Act of 1836, but were discontinued in 1909, with the United States Congress, U.S. Congress abolishing the system formally in 1910. A caveat was similar to a patent application with a description of an invention and patent drawing, drawings, but without examination for patentable subject matter and without a requirement for claim (patent), patent claims. A patent caveat was an official notice of intention to file a patent application at a later date. A caveat expired after one year, but could be renewed by paying an annual renewal fee, annual fee of $10. Caveats were similar to provisional applications used today in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which also expire after one year. However, provisional applications today are non-renewab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Legal Document
Legal instrument is a legal term of art that is used for any formally executed written document that can be formally attributed to its author, records and formally expresses a legally enforceable act, process, or contractual duty, obligation, or right, and therefore evidences that act, process, or agreement.''Barron's Law Dictionary'', s.v. "instrument". Examples include a certificate, deed, bond, contract, will, legislative act, notarial act, court writ or process, or any law passed by a competent legislative body in domestic or international law. Many legal instruments were written ''under seal'' by affixing a wax or paper seal to the document in evidence of its legal execution and authenticity (which often removed the need for consideration in contract law). However, today many jurisdictions have done away with the requirement of documents being under seal in order to give them legal effect. Electronic legal documents With the onset of the Internet and electronic e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Provisional Application
A provisional application is a patent application filed at the intellectual property offices of some countries. It does not mature into an issued patent and is deemed abandoned one year after its filing. It is used to secure a filing date for a subsequent non-provisional patent application claiming priority of the provisional application. There is no such thing as a "provisional patent".David Pressman, ''Patent It Yourself'', Nolo Press, 2006, page 56, . The same term is used in past and current patent laws of different countries with different meanings. History The provisional application was introduced to U.S. patent law with a 1994 amendment of the Patent Act of 1952. A 12-month benefit of priority to foreign-filed applications had been a part of U.S. patent law since the 1901 U.S. ratification of the Brussels revision of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. Characteristics Under U.S. law, a provisional application, as such, is never exami ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
United States Defensive Publication
A United States Defensive Publication is a published patent application for which the inventor has elected not to get patent coverage. Defensive Publications were made between April 1968 and May 8, 1985. The program, called Defensive Publication Program, was replaced by the statutory invention registration program, which itself was discontinued after the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) entered into force in 2013. US Defensive Publications can be searched in the United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) patent search web page. They are designated by a "T" in the publication number, the letter "T" referring to "Technical disclosure". Defensive publications may be cited as prior art against patent applications, but only as of their publication dates. This is in contrast to statutory invention registrations, which are prior art as of their filing dates in the same manner as U.S. patents. However, a defensive publication may be the subject of an interference proceed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Patent Office 1877 Fire
The Patent Office fire of 1877 was the second of two major fires of the U.S. Patent Office. It occurred in the Old Patent Office Building, 1864 Patent Office Building of Washington, D.C., on September 24, 1877. The building was constructed to be fireproof, but many of its contents were not. About 80,000 models and 600,000 copy drawings were burned to some degree. No patents were completely lost, however (unlike the situation with 1836 U.S. Patent Office fire, the first Patent Office fire), and the Patent Office was soon reopened for recordings. History On July 4, 1836, the Patent Office became its own organization within the United States Department of State, Department of State under the Patent Act of 1836. Henry Leavitt Ellsworth became its first commissioner. He started construction of a new Fireproofing, fire-proof building, after the previous building had burned down in a disastrous fire. Architect Robert Mills (architect), Robert Mills was given instructions by United ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Patent Office 1836 Fire
The 1836 U.S. Patent Office fire was the first of two major fires the U.S. Patent Office has had in its history. It occurred in Blodget's Hotel building, Washington on December 15, 1836. An initial investigation considered the possibility of arson due to suspected corruption in the Post Office, which shared the same building, but it was later ruled out. The cause was ultimately determined to be accidental. The fire is considered to be a unique point in the historical events of the Patent Office that caused policy changes. Local fire suppression efforts were incapable of preventing the damage due to lack of fire personnel and proper equipment. Many patent documents and models from the preceding three decades were irretrievably lost. As a result of the fire, Congress and the newly legally revamped Patent Office changed the way it handled its record keeping, assigning numbers to patents and requiring multiple copies of supporting documentation. History In 1810, Congress authorize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Patent Model
A patent model was a handmade scale model, miniature model no larger than 12" by 12" by 12" (approximately 30 cm by 30 cm by 30 cm) that showed how an invention works. It was one of the most interesting early features of the United States patent system.Byers, KimPatent Models: Icons of Innovation USPTO, February 11, 2002. Retrieved September 11, 2010. Since some early inventors had little technological or legal training, it was difficult for them to submit formal patent applications which require the novel features of an invention to be described in a written application and a number of diagrams. History In the US, patent models were required from 1790 to 1880.Riordan, TeresaPatent Models' Strange Odyssey New York Times, February 18, 2002. The United States Congress abolished the legal requirement for them in 1870, but the United States Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Patent Office (USPTO) kept the requirement until 1880. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
First To Invent
First to file and first to invent are legal concepts that define who has the right to the grant of a patent for an invention. Since March 16, 2013, after the United States abandoned its "first to invent/document" system, all countries have operated under the "first-to-file" patent priority requirement. First to file In a first-to-file system, the right to grant a patent for a given invention lies with the first person to file a patent application for protection of that invention, regardless of the date of the actual invention. First to disclose The concept of a grace period, under which early disclosure does not prevent the discloser from later filing and obtaining a patent, must be distinguished here from the FTI system. Germany and the UK formerly had a concept of the grace period. Both FTI and grace period systems afforded early discloser protection against later filers. The FTI system allowed non-disclosers to overturn established parties, whereas the grace system only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Interference Proceedings
In United States patent law, an interference proceeding, also known as a priority contest, is an ''inter partes'' proceeding to determine the priority issues of multiple patent applications. Unlike in most other countries, which have long had a first-to-file system, until the enactment of the Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) in 2011, the United States operated under a first-to-invent. The interference proceeding determines which of several patent applications had been made by the first inventor. The AIA switched the US to a first-to-file regime effective March 16, 2013, and interferences apply only to patent applications with an effective filing date prior to that change. Definition An interference proceeding is an administrative proceeding conducted by a panel of administrative patent judges (administrative law judges sitting on the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to determine which applicant is not e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Annual Renewal Fee
Maintenance fees or renewal fees are fees paid to maintain a granted patent in force. Some patent laws require the payment of maintenance fees for pending patent applications. Not all patent laws require the payment of maintenance fees and different laws provide different regulations concerning not only the amount payable but also the regularity of the payments. In countries where maintenance fees are to be paid annually, they are sometimes called patent annuities. Rationale Research is indicating that renewal fees can be used to improve the innovation incentives generated by patent rights. International treaties Paris Convention Article 5bis of the Paris Convention requires that parties to the convention should provide a six-month grace period for paying maintenance fees: :''(1) A period of grace of not less than six months shall be allowed for the payment of the fees prescribed for the maintenance of industrial property rights, subject, if the domestic legislation so provides, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
United States Patent And Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency in the United States Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexandria, Virginia, after a 2005 move from the Crystal City, Virginia, Crystal City area of neighboring Arlington County, Virginia, Arlington, Virginia. The USPTO is "unique among federal agencies because it operates solely on fees collected by its users, and not on taxpayer dollars". Its "operating structure is like a business in that it receives requests for services—applications for patents and trademark registrations—and charges fees projected to cover the cost of performing the services [it] provide[s]". The office is headed by the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and directo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Claim (patent)
In a patent or patent application, the claims define in technical terms the extent, i.e. the scope, of the protection conferred by a patent, or the protection sought in a patent application. The claims particularly point out the subject matter which the inventor(s) regard as their invention. In other words, the purpose of the claims is to define which subject matter is protected by the patent (or sought to be protected by the patent application). This is termed as the "notice function" of a patent claim—to warn others of what they must not do if they are to avoid patent infringement, infringement liability. The claims are of paramount importance in both patent prosecution, prosecution and lawsuit, litigation. For instance, a claim could read: * "An apparatus for catching mice, said apparatus comprising a base, a spring member coupled to the base, and ..." * "A chemical composition for cleaning windows, said composition substantially consisting of 10–15% ammonia, ..." * "Method ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Patentable Subject Matter
Patentable, statutory or patent-eligible subject matter is subject matter of an invention that is considered appropriate for patent protection in a given jurisdiction. The laws and practices of many countries stipulate that certain types of inventions should be denied patent protection. Together with criteria such as novelty, inventive step or nonobviousness, utility (or industrial applicability), which differ from country to country, the question of whether a particular subject matter is patentable is one of the substantive requirements for patentability. The problem of patentable subject matter arises usually in cases of biological and software inventions, and much less frequently in other areas of technology. Legislation The subject-matter which is regarded as patentable as a matter of policy, and correspondingly the subject-matter which is excluded from patentability as a matter of policy, depends on the national legislation or international treaty. Canada According ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
