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Office Action
In the United States, an Office action is a document written by an examiner in a patent or trademark examination procedure and mailed to an applicant for a patent or trademark. The expression is used in many jurisdictions. Formally, the "O" is supposed to be capitalized, since it refers to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. United States Trademark law In United States trademark law, an Office action is issued by an examiner for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), rejecting an application to register a trademark. An Office action typically includes one or both of two elements. The first possible element is the category of "informalities", matters such as an inadequate sample to show use of the mark, providing insufficient information with respect to the nature of the entity seeking the mark (for example, failing to name the partners in a partnership), or providing insufficient information for the examiner to determine what, exactly, the goods and servic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patent Prosecution
Patent prosecution is the interaction between applicants and a patent office with regard to a patent application or a patent. The prosecution process is broadly divided into two phases: pre-grant and post-grant prosecution. Pre-grant prosecution includes the drafting and filing of patent applications, responding to patent office actions, and navigating the examination process to meet all legal requirements for patentability. This phase requires a strategic presentation of the invention's novelty and inventive step over existing technologies. Post-grant prosecution deals with activities that occur after a patent has been granted. This includes maintaining the patent, handling oppositions or challenges from third parties, and making amendments or corrections to the patent documentation. It ensures that the patent remains enforceable and continues to provide value to the patent holder. Patent prosecution is distinct from patent litigation, which describes legal action relating to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Patent Law
Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited time (usually, 20 years) from profiting from a patented technology without the consent of the patent holder. Specifically, it is the right to exclude others from: making, using, selling, offering for sale, importing, inducing others to infringe, applying for an FDA approval, and/or offering a product specially adapted for practice of the patent. History 1623. England adopts Statute of Monopolies, which has been acknowledged as a legal predecessor of the US patent law. 1789. U.S. Constitution in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 authorizes Congress "to promote the Progress of . . . useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to . . . Inventors the exclusive Right to their . . . Discoveries." It is believed that, unlike most parts of the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Search Report
In patent law, a search report is a report established by a patent office, which mentions documents which may be taken into consideration in deciding whether the invention to which a patent application relates is patentable.See for instance The documents mentioned in the search report usually form part of the prior art. Patent law Categories of documents Letters are often included in search reports established for patent applications to indicate the relevance of the documents identified by the examiner. For instance, the European Patent Office (EPO) uses the following letters in search reports or in the European Patent Register:Search reports: when is an X document not an X document? [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Board Of Patent Appeals And Interferences
The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) was an administrative law body of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which decided issues of patentability. Under the America Invents Act, the BPAI was replaced with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), effective September 16, 2012. Structure The BPAI was primarily made up of an Appeals Division and a Trial Division. The Appeals Division, with over 100 Administrative Patent Judges, handled appeals of patent examiner rejections, with sections adjudicating different technology areas. The Trial Division, with 11 Administrative Patent Judges as of 2008, handled contested cases or interference proceedings. The BPAI was headed by a Chief Administrative Patent Judge with a Vice Chief. As of mid-2013, the Chief Administrative Patent Judge was James Donald Smith. Procedures An applicant could appeal the examiner's decision to the BPAI. The appeal procedure was described in chapter 1200 of the U.S. Manual of Pat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Prior Art
Prior art (also known as state of the art or background art) is a concept in patent law used to determine the patentability of an invention, in particular whether an invention meets the novelty and the inventive step or non-obviousness criteria for patentability. In most systems of patent law, prior art is generally defined as anything that is made available, or disclosed, to the public that might be relevant to a patent's claim before the effective filing date of a patent application for an invention. However, notable differences exist in how prior art is specifically defined under different national, regional, and international patent systems. The prior art is evaluated by patent offices as part of the patent granting process in what is called "substantive examination" of a patent application in order to determine whether an invention claimed in the patent application meets the novelty and inventive step or non-obviousness criteria for patentability. It may also be considered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patent Application
A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for an invention described in the patent specification and a set of one or more claim (patent), claims stated in a formal document, including necessary official forms and related correspondence. It is the combination of the document and its processing within the administrative and legal framework of the patent office. To obtain the grant of a patent, a person, either legal or natural, must file an application at a patent office with the jurisdiction to grant a patent in the geographic area over which coverage is required. This is often a national patent office, but may be a regional body, such as the European Patent Office. Once the patent specification complies with the laws of the office concerned, a patent may be granted for the invention described and claimed by the specification. The process of "negotiating" or "arguing" with a patent office for the grant of a patent, and interaction with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patent Examiner
A patent examiner (or, historically, a patent clerk) is an employee, usually a civil service, civil servant with a scientific or engineering background, working at a patent office. Duties Due to a long-standing and incessantly growing backlog of unexamined patent applications, examiners have a very limited amount of time to determine patentability of disclosed inventions. Ill-defined "tenure rules", as well as pressure to work overtime to meet the "production quotas", result in very high (over 50% within 4 years after hiring, mostly involuntary) attrition rates among patent examiners, especially at the USPTO. The attrition (mostly involuntary) of patent examiners is so severe that "in some years the USPTO loses more examiners than it hires". Some patent applications are easy for an examiner to assess, but others require considerably more time. This has given rise to controversy: on April 13, 2007, a "Coalition of Patent Examiner Representatives" expressed concern that Offices ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trademark Trial And Appeal Board
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) is an administrative tribunal within the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The TTAB is empowered to determine the right to register a trademark. It has no authority to determine the right to use one, nor broader questions of infringement, unfair competition, damages or injunctive relief. The TTAB decides '' ex parte'' appeals from decisions by USPTO Examiners denying registration of marks, and inter partes proceedings challenging the registration of marks. Decisions of the TTAB may be appealed to a United States district court, or to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Practices and procedures for litigating before the TTAB are governed by the Trademark Rules of Practice and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Manual of Procedure (TBMP) is an important guide to practice before the TTAB. Judges of the TTAB The Administrative Trademark Judges of the Trademark ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trademark Prosecution
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a product or service from a particular source and distinguishes it from others. Trademarks can also extend to non-traditional marks like drawings, symbols, 3D shapes like product designs or packaging, sounds, scents, or specific colours used to create a unique identity. For example, Pepsi® is a registered trademark associated with soft drinks, and the distinctive shape of the Coca-Cola® bottle is a registered trademark protecting Coca-Cola's packaging design. The primary function of a trademark is to identify the source of goods or services and prevent consumers from confusing them with those from other sources. Legal protection for trademarks is typically secured through registration with governmental agencies, such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or the European Union Intellectual Pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Likelihood Of Confusion
In trademark law, confusing similarity is a test used during the examination process to determine whether a trademark conflicts with another, earlier mark, and also in trademark infringement proceedings to determine whether the use of a mark infringes a registered trademark. In many jurisdictions this test has been superseded by the concepts of similarity and likelihood of confusion, due to the harmonizing effects of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Infringement Where mark X is not identical to a registered trademark, the use of mark X may still amount to an infringement if it is "confusingly similar" to the registered trademark. Mark X may share elements of spelling or style that would lead a reasonable observer to believe the trademarks were related. For example, in the computer industry, Microsoft has become such a well known trade name and trade mark that other businesses in the industry may want to use the term "micro" or "soft" in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
