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CAFTA: Central American Free Trade
Agreement is a proposed agreement
between the United States and five Central American nations
(Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua). |
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Canceled Claim: A claim that is canceled or deleted. "Canceled" is the status
identifier that should be used when a claim is canceled in an
application. |
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CIP
(Continuation-in-Part): An application filed during the lifetime
of an earlier nonprovisional application, repeating some substantial
portion or all of the earlier nonprovisional application and adding
matter not disclosed in the earlier nonprovisional application. |
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Certificate
of Mailing: A
certificate for each piece of correspondence mailed, prior to the
expiration of the set period of time for response, stating the
date of deposit with the U.S. Postal Service and including a signature.
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Claims:
Claims define the invention and are what are legally enforceable. The
specification must conclude with a claim particularly pointing out and
distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as
his invention or discovery. The claim or claims must conform to the
invention as set forth in the remainder of the specification and the
terms and phrases used in the claims must find clear support or
antecedent basis in the description so that the meaning of the terms in
the claims may be ascertainable by reference to the description. (See §
1.58(a)).
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Claim,
Closed: The preamble of a claim
using a phrase such as "consisting of" and of this form of
claim is considered to positively and clearly include all the elements
or steps recited therein as a part of the claimed combination.
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Claim,
Dependent: A claim that refers back to and further limits
or restricts the breadth of another claim. The other claim may be an
independent claim or another dependent claim. |
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Claim,
Generic: A claim that describes
("reads on") a generic form of an invention. A generic claim
generally reads on all the claimed species of an invention.
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Claim,
Independent: A claim that does not reference (depend from)
another claim. |
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Claim,
Jepson: A form of a claim with a preamble that describes
what is known in the art followed by a transitional phrase such as
"the improvement comprising" and then a description of the
claimed improvement. |
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Claim,
Markush: A form of a claim that
allows claiming of members of a finite group by a claim that recites
members as being "selected from the group consisting of A, B and
C." The members of a Markush group must have at least one property
that is akin to the group. |
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Claim,
Multiple Dependent: A
claim that refers back to and
further limits another claim or claims and
depends from more than one other claim. The other claims may be referred
to in the alternative only.
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Claim,
Process: A claim that recites
the steps of a process. The process may be a method of making something,
a process of operating something or a process of using something. 35
U.S.C. 101.
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Claim,
Product: claim that
recites the elements or features of a product (i.e., a machine, an
article of manufacture or a composition of matter). A claim recites the
physical form of an invention. 35 U.S.C. 101.
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Claim,
Species: A claim that describes
("reads on") a species of an invention. A generic claim
generally reads on all the claimed species of an invention.
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Claim,
Picture: A claim that describes every aspect of an
invention. |
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Classification:
Patents are classified (organized) in the U.S. by
a system using a 3 digit class and a subclass to describe every similar
grouping of patent art. A single invention may be described by multiple
classification codes. |
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Co-Inventor:
An inventor who is named with at least one other
inventor in a patent application, wherein each inventor contributes to
the conception of the invention set forth in at least one claim in a
patent application. |
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Commercialization: a process of creating an invention and then
getting in position to manufacture, market and distribute or sell. |
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Common Law Rights: property or other legal rights that do not absolutely require
formal registration in order to enforce them. |
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Community
Patent Convention (CPC): The CPC was to further the EPC by providing a single patent that covered
the entire territory of the European Community. |
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Composed Of: used when defining the scope of a claim. A transitional
phrase that is interpreted in the same manner as either "consisting
of" or "consisting
essentially of," depending on the facts of
the particular case.
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Comprising: A transitional phrase that is synonymous with (means the same thing
as) "including," "containing"
or "characterized by;" is inclusive or
open-ended and does not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method
steps. Comprising is a term of art used in claim language which
means that the named elements are essential. |
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Conception: "The complete performance of the mental
part of the inventive act" and it is "the formation in the
mind of the inventor of a definite and permanent idea of the complete
and operative invention as it is thereafter to be applied in
practice.." Townsend v. Smith, 36 F.2d 292, 295, 4 USPQ 269,
271 (CCPA 1930). "[C]onception is established when the invention is
made sufficiently clear to enable one skilled in the art to reduce it to
practice without the exercise of extensive experimentation or the
exercise of inventive skill." Hiatt v. Ziegler, 179 USPQ
757, 763 (Bd. Pat. Inter. 1973). Conception has also been defined as a
disclosure of an invention which enables one skilled in the art to
reduce the invention to a practical form without "exercise of the
inventive faculty." Gunter v. Stream, 573 F.2d 77, 197 USPQ
482 (CCPA 1978). |
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Consisting Essentially Of: A
transitional phrase that limits the scope of a claim to
the specified materials or steps and those that do not materially affect
the basic and novel characteristics of the claimed invention. For the
purposes of searching for and applying prior art under 35 U.S.C.
102 and 103, absent (without) a clear indication in the
specification or claims of what the basic and novel characteristics
actually are, "consisting essentially of"
will be construed (understood) as equivalent to "comprising." |
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Consisting Of: A
transitional phrase that is closed (only includes exactly what is
stated) and excludes any element, step, or ingredient not specified
in the claim. |
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Continuation: A second application for the same invention
claimed in a prior nonprovisional application and filed before the first
application becomes abandoned or patented. |
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Contributory
Infringement: Making or facilitating the production of any
portion of a patented product or a material or a patented. |
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Convention
(PCT): Convention, PCT Similar
to the EPC, The PCT convention operates as a "holding pattern"
to preserve rights in designated countries for a specified time.
Comprised of different countries than the EPC except in such instances
where a country belongs to both conventions.
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Cross
Reference: A reference (issued patent) in another class or
subclass, or a reference made in a later-filed patent application to a
related, earlier-filed application. |
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Customer Number:
number
assigned by the Office that is used to simplify the submission of an
address change, to appoint a practitioner, or to designate the fee
address for a patent. Customer numbers are primarily used by attorneys
and law firms, and must be requested using the "Request for
Customer Number" form (PTO/SB/125).
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Cyberlaw: legal matter related to intellectual property on
the Internet and its regulation and governing. |
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