One Year Prior Art Rule Applies for Design Patent Applications Also

Application filed at a patent office

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^{[notes one]} and a fix of one or more claims stated in a formal document, including necessary official forms and related correspondence. It is the combination of the document and its processing inside the administrative and legal framework of the patent office.^[3]

To obtain the grant of a patent, a person, either legal or natural, must file an application at a patent function with the jurisdiction to grant a patent in the geographic area over which coverage is required. This is oft a national patent part, but may be a regional body, such as the European Patent Function. Once the patent specification complies with the laws of the office concerned, a patent may be granted for the invention described and claimed past the specification.

The process of "negotiating" or "arguing" with a patent role for the grant of a patent, and interaction with a patent part with regard to a patent after its grant, is known as patent prosecution. Patent prosecution is distinct from patent litigation which relates to legal proceedings for infringement of a patent after it is granted.

Definition [edit]

The term patent application refers to the legal and administrative proceedings of requesting the issuance of a patent for an invention, besides as to the physical document and content of the description and claims of the invention, including its procedural paper piece of work.^[3]

The showtime of those—the request for a legal privilege to which the applicant is entitled if the application is well founded—is temporal by its nature. It ceases to be as before long equally the application is withdrawn or refused, or a patent is granted. The informational content of the certificate every bit filed (or in other, prosaic words, the piece of newspaper), is a historical fact that persists and exists in perpetuity.^[3] ^{[notes 2]} The expression "application" is often employed without existence witting of its ambiguity.^[iv] The expression is capable of misleading even experienced professionals.^[4]

Geographic telescopic [edit]

Depending upon the office at which a patent application is filed, that application could either be an application for a patent in a given country, or may exist an application for a patent in a range of countries. The former are known every bit "national (patent) applications", and the latter as "regional (patent) applications".

National applications [edit]

National applications are more often than not filed at a national patent part, such every bit the United Kingdom Patent Office, to obtain a patent in the land of that office. The application may either exist filed directly at that office, or may event from a regional application or from an international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (Per centum), once information technology enters the national phase.

Regional applications [edit]

A regional patent application is one which may accept event in a range of countries. The European Patent Office (EPO) is an example of a Regional patent role. The EPO grants patents which can take event in some or all countries contracting to the European Patent Convention (EPC), following a unmarried application process.

Filing and prosecuting an application at a regional granting office is advantageous every bit it allows patents in a number of countries to be obtained without having to prosecute applications in all of those countries. The cost and complication of obtaining protection is therefore reduced.

International applications [edit]

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is operated by World Intellectual Property Arrangement (WIPO) and provides a centralised application procedure, but patents are not granted under the treaty.

The PCT arrangement enables an bidder to file a single patent application in a unmarried linguistic communication.^[5] The application, called an international application, can, at a later date, lead to the grant of a patent in any of the states contracting to the PCT. WIPO, or more precisely the International Bureau of WIPO, performs many of the formalities of a patent application in a centralised style, therefore avoiding the need to repeat the steps in all countries in which a patent may ultimately be granted. The WIPO coordinates searches performed by any i of the International Searching Government (ISA), publishes the international applications and coordinates preliminary examination performed by whatever i of the International Preliminary Examination Authorities (IPEA). Steps such as naming inventors and applicants, and filing certified copies of priority documents can too be done centrally, and need not be repeated.

The chief advantage of proceeding via the PCT route is that the choice of obtaining patents in a wide range of countries is retained, while the cost of a large number of applications is deferred. In most countries, if a national awarding succeeds, damages can be claimed from the engagement of the international application's publication.^{[half dozen]}

Types [edit]

Patent offices may ascertain a number of types of applications, each offering dissimilar benefits and being useful in different situations. Each office utilizes different names for the types of applications, merely the general groups are detailed beneath. Within each group there are specific type of applications, such as patents for inventions (also called "utility patents" in the U.South.), plant patents, and design patents, each of which can take their ain substantive and procedural rules.

Standard application [edit]

A standard patent awarding is a patent application containing all of the necessary parts (e.g. a written description of the invention and claims) that are required for the grant of a patent. A standard patent application may or may non event in the grant of a patent depending upon the outcome of an examination by the patent role it is filed in. In the U.S., a standard patent application is referred to as a "non-conditional" awarding.

Provisional application [edit]

Provisional patent applications can be filed at a pocket-sized number of patent offices, such equally the USPTO in the U.S. A provisional application provides an opportunity to place an application on file to obtain a filing date (thereby securing a priority date), but without the expense and complexity of a standard patent application. The disclosure in a provisional application may, within a limited time (one year in the U.S.), exist incorporated into a standard patent application if a patent is to be pursued. Otherwise, the conditional application expires. No enforceable rights can be obtained solely through the filing of a provisional awarding.

Continuation application [edit]

In certain offices a patent awarding tin be filed as a continuation of a previous awarding. Such an application is a convenient method of including material from a previous application in a new awarding when the priority twelvemonth has expired and further refinement is needed. Various types of continuation awarding are possible, such as continuation and continuation-in-part.

Divisional application [edit]

A bounded patent application is i which has been "divided" from an existing application. A divisional application can only contain discipline matter in the application from which information technology is divided (its parent), and retains the filing and priority date of the parent. Divisional applications are useful if a unity of invention objection is issued, in which case further inventions can be protected in bounded applications.

Preparation, filing, and prosecution [edit]

The procedure of obtaining the grant of a patent begins with the preparation of a specification describing the invention. That specification is filed at a patent office for examination and ultimately a patent for the invention described in the awarding is either granted or refused.

Patent specification [edit]

A patent specification is a document describing the invention for which a patent is sought and setting out the telescopic of the protection of the patent. As such, a specification mostly contains a department detailing the background and overview of the invention, a description of the invention and embodiments of the invention and claims, which set out the scope of the protection. A specification may include figures to assist the description of the invention, gene sequences and references to biological deposits, or computer code, depending upon the subject matter of the application. Most patent offices as well require that the awarding includes an abstruse which provides a summary of the invention to aid searching. A title must likewise generally be provided for the application.

Each patent office has rules relating to the form of the specification, defining such things as paper size, font, layout, department ordering and headings. Such requirements vary between offices.

Since a clarification cannot generally be modified in one case it is filed (with narrow exceptions), it is important to take it done correctly the start fourth dimension.

Claims [edit]

The claims of a patent specification ascertain the scope of protection granted by the patent. The claims describe the invention in a specific legal fashion, setting out the essential features of the invention in a manner to clearly ascertain what would infringe the patent. Claims are often amended during prosecution to narrow or expand their telescopic.

The claims may contain one or more hierarchical sets of claims, each having ane or more main, independent claim setting out the broadest protection, and a number of dependent claims which narrow that protection past defining more than specific features of the invention.

In the U.S., claims can be amended after a patent is granted, simply their telescopic cannot exist broadened beyond what was originally disclosed in the specification. No claim broadening is allowed more than than two years after the patent issues.^[7]

Filing date [edit]

The filing date of an application sets a cutoff date after which any public disclosures cannot form prior art (merely the priority date must also be considered), and also considering, in most jurisdictions, the right to a patent for an invention lies with the first person to file an awarding for protection of that invention (Run across: first to file and first to invent). It is therefore generally beneficial to file an application every bit shortly as possible.

To obtain a filing engagement, the documents filed must comply with the regulations of the patent function in which it was filed. A full specification complying with all rules may non be required to obtain a filing date. For example, in the U.K., claims and an abstruse are non required to obtain a filing date, but can exist added afterwards. Withal, since no subject matter tin can be added to an application later on the filing appointment, information technology is important that an application disclose all material relevant to the awarding at the time of filing. If the requirements for the award of a filing date are non met, the patent part notifies the applicant of the deficiencies. Depending upon the constabulary of the patent office in question, correction may exist possible without moving the filing date, or the awarding may exist awarded a filing appointment adapted to the engagement on which the requirements are completed. A filed awarding generally receives an awarding number.

Priority claim [edit]

A patent awarding may merits priority from one or more previously filed applications to have advantage of the filing appointment of these before applications (in respect of the information contained in these before applications).^[8] Claiming priority is desirable because the before effective filing date reduces the number of prior art disclosures, increasing the likelihood of obtaining a patent.

The priority organisation is useful in filing patent applications in many countries, as the cost of the filings can be delayed past up to a year, without any of the applications made earlier for the aforementioned invention counting against later applications.

The rules relating to priority claims are in accordance with the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, and countries which provide a priority system in conformity with the Paris Convention are said to be convention countries. These rules should not be dislocated with the rules under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (Pct), outlined to a higher place.

Security problems [edit]

Many national patent offices^{[ vague ]} require that security clearance is given prior to the filing of a patent application in foreign countries. Such clearance is intended to protect national security by preventing the spread and publication of technologies related to (amongst others) warfare or nuclear arms.

The rules vary between patent offices, but in full general^{[ vague ]} all applications filed are reviewed and if they contain any relevant material, a secrecy social club may be imposed. That order may prevent the publication of the application, and/or the strange filing of patents relating to the invention.^{[ vague ]}

Should information technology be desired to file an application in a country other than an inventor'due south country of residence, it may be^{[ vague ]} necessary to obtain a foreign filing licence from the inventor'southward national patent role to permit filing away. Some offices, such every bit the USPTO, may grant an automatic license after a specified time (eastward.g., half-dozen months), if a secrecy social club is not issued in that time.

Publication [edit]

Patent applications are generally published 18 months after the primeval priority date of the application. Prior to that publication the application is confidential to the patent part. Subsequently publication, depending upon local rules, certain parts of the application file may remain confidential, but information technology is common for all communications between an Applicant (or his agent) and the patent office to be publicly bachelor.

The publication of a patent application marks the engagement at which it is publicly available and therefore at which it forms full prior fine art for other patent applications worldwide.

Patent pending [edit]

The expression patent pending is a alarm that an alleged invention is the discipline of a patent awarding. The term may be used to marker products containing the invention to alarm a third party to the fact that the third political party may exist infringing a patent if the product is copied after the patent is granted. The rules on the use of the term to marker products vary amongst patent offices, as do the benefits of such marking. In full general, it is permissible to apply the term patent pending to a product if there is, in fact, a patent pending for any invention implemented in the product.

Patentable subject matter [edit]

Patents are granted for the protection of an invention, but while an invention may occur in whatsoever field, patent laws have restrictions on the areas in which patents can be granted. Such restrictions are known equally exclusions from patentability.

The scope of patentable subject is significantly larger in the U.Due south. than in Europe. For instance, in Europe, things such as computer software or methods of performing mental acts are not patentable. The subject area of what should be patentable is highly contentious, particularly as to software and business organisation methods.

Search and exam [edit]

Later filing, either systematically or, in some jurisdictions, upon request, a search is carried out for the patent application. The purpose of the search is to reveal prior art which may exist relevant to the patentability of the declared invention (that is, relevant to what is claimed, the "claimed bailiwick-affair"). The search report is published, generally with the application 18 months afterward the priority appointment of the application, and as such is a public document. The search report is useful to the applicant to determine whether the application should be pursued or if there is prior fine art which prevents the grant of a useful patent, in which example the awarding may be abased earlier the applicant incurs further expense. The search report is too useful for the public and the competitors, so that they may take an idea of the telescopic of protection which may be granted to the pending patent application.^[9]

In some jurisdictions, including the U.S., a separate search is non conducted, but rather search and examination are combined. In such instance, a separate search report is not issued, and information technology is not until the application is examined that the applicant is informed of prior art which the patent role examiner considers relevant.

Examination is the procedure of ensuring that an application complies with the requirements of the relevant patent laws. Examination is generally an iterative procedure, whereby the patent function notifies the applicant of its objection (see Office activeness). The applicant may answer with an argument or an amendment to overcome the objection. The amendment and the argument may and then be accepted or rejected, triggering further response, and so along, until a patent is issued or the awarding is abased or refused. Because patent application examination may be a lengthy process, many patent offices including U.s. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and other national patent offices take introduced several programs of prioritized examination. These programs targeted specific domains or small firms. Mail-program studies accept plant that small firms (less than 500 employees) are almost 4 times more likely than big firms to apply for accelerated examination the prioritized patenting, moreover patents examined through the Runway One Program at USPTO were up to 44% more probable to be cited.^[10]

Effect or grant [edit]

Once the patent awarding complies with the requirements of the relevant patent function, a patent is granted further official fees, and in some regional patent systems, such as the European patent system, validating the patent requires that the applicant provide translations of the application in the official languages of states in which they desire protection.

The date of issue effectively terminates prosecution of a specific application, after which continuing applications cannot be filed, and establishes the date upon which infringement may exist charged. Furthermore, an issue date for an awarding in the U.S. filed prior to 1995 besides factors into the term of the patent, whereas the term of afterward filings is adamant solely by the filing date.

Post-upshot or grant [edit]

Many jurisdictions crave periodic payment of maintenance fees to retain the validity of a patent after information technology is issued and during its term. Failure to timely pay the fees results in loss of the patent'south protection.

The validity of an issued patent may too be subject to post-consequence challenges of various types, some of which may cause the patent office to re-examine the application.

Trends in patents applications [edit]

In 2020, three.3 million patent applications were filed worldwide. This represents an increase of 1.6% on 2019.^[11]

Trend in patent applications worldwide 2006–2020^[12]
Yr	Number of applications	Growth rate (%)
2006	1 791 700	5,ii
2007	1 874 700	4,vi
2008	1 930 000	2,9
2009	i 855 900	-3,eight
2010	1 997 400	seven,vi
2011	ii 158 200	8,1
2012	two 356 500	ix,2
2013	2 556 000	8,5
2014	2 671 800	4,5
2015	2 878 200	7,7
2016	3 116 900	8,3
2017	iii 161 200	..
2018	3 325 500	5,ii
2019	3 226 100	-three,0
2020	3 276 700	1,half dozen

Notation: World totals are WIPO estimates using information covering 161 patent offices. These totals include applications filed straight with national and regional offices and applications entering offices through the Patent Cooperation Treaty national stage (where applicable). China's pre-2017 data are not comparable due to a modify in methodology. Due to this break in the information series, and to the loftier number of filings in Mainland china, it is non possible to written report an accurate 2017 growth rate at world level.

Share of women amongst listed inventors and share of Percentage applications with at least one woman as inventor for the height xx origins 2020

In 2020, women deemed for sixteen.5% of all inventors listed in Patent Cooperation Treaty applications and men the remaining 83.5%.^[thirteen] The proportion of women inventors has increased from eleven.iii% in 2006 to xvi.5% in 2020. Moreover, the proportion of women inventors has grown in every region of the earth over the past decade. About 33.7% of Pct applications named at least one woman every bit inventor in 2020, and 95.9% named at least one man as inventor. The share of Percentage applications with at least one woman as inventor has risen from 22% in 2006 to 33.seven% in 2020, while the share for those with at least one human being as inventor has decreased within the aforementioned menstruation, from 97.three% down to 95.9%.

The gender gap among Pct inventors varies considerably beyond countries. Within the acme 20 origins, Spain (27.2%), China (22.4%) and the Republic of Korea (20.5%) had the largest proportion of inventors who were women in 2020. Conversely, Deutschland (10.eight%), Japan (10.4%) and Austria (eight.one%) had the smallest.

Fields of applied science related to the life sciences had comparatively high shares of PCT applications with women inventors in 2020. Women represented more than one-quarter of inventors listed in published Pct applications in the fields of biotechnology (29.v%), food chemistry (29.four%), pharmaceuticals (28.6%), analysis of biological materials (25.ix%) and organic fine chemistry (25.2%).

Components [edit]

A patent application generally contains a clarification of the invention and at least i claim purporting to define it.^[three] A patent awarding may too include drawings to illustrate the invention. Furthermore, an abstract is generally required.

For example, an international (PCT) application "must contain the following elements: asking, description, claim or claims, ane or more drawings (where drawings are necessary for the understanding of the invention), and abstract."^[14] Dominion 5 PCT specifies what the description of an international awarding should comprise in more than details.

Equally another example, a European patent application consists of "a request for the grant of a European patent, a description of the invention, i or more than claims, whatever drawings referred to in the clarification or claims, and an abstruse."^[fifteen] Rule 42 EPC specifies what the clarification of a European patent awarding should contain in more details.

Encounter also [edit]

Backlog of unexamined patent applications
INID codes
Kokai
Glossary of patent law terms
Listing of patent offices
Patent caveat, a type of provisional application used by the USPTO until 1909
Patent model, a miniature model of an invention required by the USPTO until 1880
Proof of concept
Provisional rights
Statutory invention registration

Notes [edit]

^ In the context of patent police force, the specification, or patent specification, may either refer to the description of a patent or patent application, which is the meaning prevalent in the U.South.,^[1] or to the complete patent every bit granted, which is pregnant prevalent in Europe.^[2]
^ Some of the early patents issued by the Us Patent and Trademark Office from July 1790 (when the first U.S. patent was issued) to July 1836 were lost by fire on December fifteen, 1836. The information content of at least some of these patent documents (if not recovered from somewhere else, e.g. through the inventors' records) practise not exist in perpetuity. See 10-patents.

Sources [edit]

This article incorporates text derived from a free content work. Licensed nether CC-BY-4.0 Licensed text taken from World Intellectual Holding Indicators 2021, WIPO. To learn how to add open license text to Wikipedia articles, delight encounter this how-to page. For information on reusing text from Wikipedia, delight see Wikipedia's terms of use.

References [edit]

^ See for instance MPEP 608 "...since each of these sections (specification, abstract, claims, sequence listings) of the disclosure are separately indexed..."
^ See for instance Rule 73(ane)(first judgement) EPC: "The specification of the European patent shall include the description, the claims and any drawings."
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Oxonica Energy Ltd v Neuftec Ltd (2008) EWHC 2127 (Pat), item 43.
^ ^a ^b Oxonica Energy Ltd v Neuftec Ltd (2008) EWHC 2127 (Pat), detail 44. Some examples of confusion in the Great britain Patents Act 1977 are given in this conclusion.
^ "Protecting your Inventions Away: Frequently Asked Questions about the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) (WIPO Publication No. 433(E))" (pdf). Earth Intellectual Holding Organization (WIPO). April 2006. p. 3. ISBN92-805-1532-2 . Retrieved March 9, 2012. Briefly, an outline of the Percent process includes the following steps: Filing: you file an international application, complying with the Pct formality requirements, in one language, and you pay i set of fees. ...
^ Oxonica Energy Ltd v Neuftec Ltd (2008) EWHC 2127 (Pat), item 47.
^ "35 U.S. Code § 251 - Reissue of lacking patents". LII / Legal Information Institute . Retrieved 2021-03-13 .
^ "35 U.S. Code § 120 - Benefit of earlier filing date in the United States". LII / Legal Data Institute . Retrieved 2021-03-xiii .
^ Board of Appeal of the EPO, Decision of Technical Board of Appeal 3.5.01 dated 20 October 2006 T 1242/04 – 3.five.01, Reasons viii.ii, OJ EPO 7/2007, p. 421
^ Kuhn, JM, Teodorescu, MHM. The runway one pilot program: Who benefits from prioritized patent exam? Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. 2020; 1– 24. https://doi.org/10.1002/sej.1387.
^ "World Intellectual Property Indicators 2021. Page 12" (PDF). WIPO. 2020.
^ "World Intellectual Property Indicators 2021 - Patents data tables". WIPO. 2021.
^ "World Intellectual Holding Indicators 2021. Page 21" (PDF). WIPO.
^ Come across section "5.010. What are the elements of an international application?" of "Chapter five, Filing an international application". The PCT Applicant'due south Guide (Final updated 21 February 2013); Introduction to the International Phase. World Intellectual Property Organization. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
^ "Items making up a European patent application". Guide for applicants. Function 1: How to go a European patent. European Patent Office. June ane, 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2013.