A patent family is a set of
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
s or
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 officia ...
s in various countries in relation to a single
invention
An invention is a unique or novelty (patent), novel machine, device, Method_(patent), method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It m ...
, for example when a first
application
Application may refer to:
Mathematics and computing
* Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks
** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...
in a country – the
priority application – is extended to other countries. In other words, a patent family is "the same invention disclosed by a common inventor(s) and patented in more than one country." Patent families can be regarded as a "fortuitous by-product of the concept of priorities for patent applications".
Definitions
The International Patent Documentation Centre (
INPADOC INPADOC, which stands for International Patent Documentation, is a freely available international patent database. It is produced and maintained by the European Patent Office (EPO). INPADOC developed a patent family, patent families classification, ...
), the
European Patent Office
The European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg), the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the organisation (EPO) and
WIPO
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO was created to pr ...
recognize the following definitions of simple and extended patent families:
Simple patent family: All patent documents have exactly the same priority date or combination of priority dates.
Extended patent family: All patent documents are linked (directly or indirectly) via a priority document belonging to one patent family. The extended families allow for additional connectors to link other than strictly priority date. These include: domestic application numbers, countries that have not ratified the
Paris Convention Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include:
Listed by name
Paris Accords
may refer to:
* Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...
, or if the application was filed too late to claim priority.
Those are not the only possible definitions of a patent family, however. Another definition, which is broader than the "simple patent family" definition but narrower than the "extended patent family" definition, is to consider that "
l the documents having at least one common priority belong to the same patent family."
[
In general, " tent families are ffectivelydefined by databases, not by national or international laws, and family members for a particular invention can vary from database to database."][ cited in ]
See also
* Continuing patent application
Under United States patent law, a continuing patent application is a patent application that follows, and claims priority to, an earlier-filed patent application. A continuing patent application may be one of three types: a continuation, division ...
* Derwent World Patents Index
The Derwent World Patents Index (DWPI) is a database containing patent applications and grants from 44 of the world's patent issuing authorities.
Compiled in English by editorial staff, the database provides a short abstract detailing the nature ...
patent family database
* Global Dossier
The Global Dossier is an online public service launched in June 2014 by the five "IP5" offices, i.e. the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), China's National Intellectual Pro ...
* INPADOC INPADOC, which stands for International Patent Documentation, is a freely available international patent database. It is produced and maintained by the European Patent Office (EPO). INPADOC developed a patent family, patent families classification, ...
patent family database
* Triadic patent Triadic patents are a series of corresponding patents filed at the European Patent Office (EPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO), for the same invention, by the same applicant or inventor.OECD ...
References
External links
Patent families
on the Espacenet
Espacenet (formerly stylized as ''esp@cenet'') is a free online service for searching patents and patent applications. Espacenet was developed by the European Patent Office (EPO) together with the member states of the European Patent Organisation. ...
web site
Patent families
on the European Patent Office
The European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg), the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the organisation web site
* {{EPO Guidelines, b, ix, 2, 4: "Patent family system"
Family, patent