Patent & trademark

Patent & trademark

Terms related to patent and trademark applications and infringement litigations. A patent is a form of intellectual property and associated rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time. A trademark, on the other hand, is a distinctive mark or name used by an individual or business organization to identify and distinguish its products or services from those of other entities.

Industry: Law; Legal services

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Patent & trademark

disclosure

Legal services; Patent & trademark

This can refer to either an invention disclosure that is not in a patent application but is an oral or written communication of a development or it can refer to portions of a patent application.

lapse

Legal services; Patent & trademark

The date when a patent is no longer valid in a country or system due to failure to pay renewal (maintenance) fees. Often the patent can be reinstated within a limited period.

prior-art statement

Legal services; Patent & trademark

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 ...

continuation application

Legal services; Patent & trademark

This is a patent application directed toward the same invention as a prior application and filed while the prior application is pending, naming the same inventive entity. The continuation ...

equivalents—means-plus-function claims

Legal services; Patent & trademark

Rather than expressly reciting a component or feature in a patent claim, one may recite a feature as a means for accomplishing something such as "seal means for resisting passage of water between the ...

skill in the art

Legal services; Patent & trademark

An ordinary level of proficiency in a particular technology in which an invention is made.

European Patent Convention (EPC)

Legal services; Patent & trademark

Nineteen European countries are parties to the European Patent Convention. A patent application filed under this convention will, when granted, usually automatically be effective in each of the ...