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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] |
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 disclosure of the invention."A patent is not the grant of a right to make or use or sell. It does not, directly or indirectly, imply any such right. It grants only the right to exclude others. The supposition that a right to make is created by the patent grant is obviously inconsistent with the established distinctions between generic and specific patents, and with the well-known fact that a very considerable portion of the patents granted are in a field covered by a former relatively generic or basic patent, are tributary to such earlier patent, and cannot be practiced unless by license thereunder." – ''Herman v. Youngstown Car Mfg. Co.'', 191 F. 579, 584–85, 112 CCA 185 (6th Cir. 1911) In most countries, patent rights fall under private la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and List of islands of Japan, thousands of smaller islands, covering . Japan has a population of over 123 million as of 2025, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh-most populous country. The capital of Japan and List of cities in Japan, its largest city is Tokyo; the Greater Tokyo Area is the List of largest cities, largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37 million inhabitants as of 2024. Japan is divided into 47 Prefectures of Japan, administrative prefectures and List of regions of Japan, eight traditional regions. About three-quarters of Geography of Japan, the countr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Method (patent)
In United States patent law, a method, also called "process", is one of the four principal categories of things that may be patented through "utility patents". The other three are a machine, an article of manufacture (also termed a ''manufacture''), and a composition of matter. In that context, a method is a series of steps for performing a function or accomplishing a result. While the terms ''method'' and ''process'' are largely interchangeable, ''method'' usually refers to a way to use a product to accomplish a given result, and ''process'' usually refers to a series of steps in manufacture. Thus, one might speak about a method for curing headaches that comprises the administration of a therapeutically effective dose of aspirin, or speak about a process for making soap or candles. Not all methods, in the dictionary sense, are methods for purposes of United States patent law. The case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is a law that is based on preced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
USPTO
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the 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 area of neighboring 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 tprovide . The office is headed by the under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. , Coke Morgan Stewart is acting undersecretary and director, having been appointed to the position by President Trump on January 20. The U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Priority Right
In patent law, industrial design law, and trademark law, a priority right or right of priority is a time-limited right, triggered by the first filing of an application for a patent, an industrial design or a trademark respectively. The priority right allows the claimant to file a subsequent application in another country for the same invention, design, or trademark effective as of the date of filing the first application. When filing the subsequent application, the applicant must claim the priority of the first application in order to make use of the right of priority. The right of priority belongs to the applicant or his ''successor in title''. The period of priority, i.e., the period during which the priority right exists, is usually 6 months for industrial designs and trademarks and 12 months for patents and utility models. The period of priority is often referred to as the priority year for patents and utility models. In patent law, when a priority is validly claimed, the date ... [...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] |
Presumption
In law, a presumption is an "inference of a particular fact". There are two types of presumptions: rebuttable presumptions and irrebuttable (or conclusive) presumptions. A rebuttable presumption will either shift the burden of production (requiring the disadvantaged party to produce some Evidence (law), evidence to the contrary) or the burden of proof (law), burden of proof (requiring the disadvantaged party to show the presumption is wrong); in short, a Trier of fact, fact finder can reject a rebuttable presumption based on other evidence. Conversely, a conclusive/irrebuttable presumption cannot be challenged by contradictory facts or evidence. Sometimes, a presumption must be triggered by a predicate fact—that is, the fact must be found before the presumption applies. History The ancient Jewish law code, the Talmud, included reasoning from presumptions (''hazakah''), propositions taken to be true unless there was reason to believe otherwise, such as "One does not ordinarily ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transitional Phrase
A transitional phrase, in United States patent law, is a phrase that links the preamble of a patent claim to the specific elements set forth in the claim which define what the invention itself actually is. The transitional phrase acts as a limitation on the claim, indicating whether a similar device, method, or composition infringes the patent if it contains more or fewer elements than the claim in the patent. There are three kinds of transitional phrases: open, closed, and hybrid. Closed transition A closed transition usually uses the words "consisting of.” Use of this phrase limits the preamble to exactly what follows and nothing more. An example would be a patent claim for a pencil A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail of ..., which might say in the preamble "a writin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fastener
A fastener (US English) or fastening (UK English) is a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together. In general, fasteners are used to create non-permanent joints; that is, joints that can be removed or dismantled without damaging the joining components. Steel fasteners are usually made of stainless steel, carbon steel, or alloy steel. Other methods of joining materials, some of which may create permanent joints, include: crimping, welding, soldering, brazing, taping, gluing, cement, or the use of other adhesives. Force may also be used, such as with magnets, vacuum (like suction cups), or even friction (like sticky pads). Some types of woodworking joints make use of separate internal reinforcements, such as dowels or biscuits, which in a sense can be considered fasteners within the scope of the joint system, although on their own they are not general-purpose fasteners. Furniture supplied in flat-pack form often uses cam dowels lock ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rivet
A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylinder (geometry), cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the deformed end is called the ''shop head'' or buck-tail. Because there is effectively a head on each end of an installed rivet, it can support Tension (physics), tension loads. However, it is much more capable of supporting Shear force, shear loads (loads perpendicular to the axis of the shaft). Fastenings used in traditional wooden boat building, such as copper nails and clinch bolts, work on the same principle as the rivet but were in use long before the term ''rivet'' was introduced and, where they are remembered, are usually classified among nails and bolts respectively. History Solid rivets are one of the oldest and most reliable types of fasteners, having been found in archeology, archaeological findings dating back to the Bronze Age. Rivet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nail (engineering)
In woodworking and construction, a nail is a small object made of metal (or wood, called a tree nail or "trunnel") which is used as a fastener, as a peg to hang something, or sometimes as a decoration. Generally, nails have a sharp point on one end and a flattened head on the other, but headless nails are available. Nails are made in a great variety of forms for specialized purposes. The most common is a ''wire nail''. Other types of nails include ''pins'', ''Thumbtack, tacks'', ''wikt:brad, brads'', ''spikes'', and ''cleat (shoe), cleats.'' Nails are typically driven into the workpiece by a hammer or nail gun. A nail holds materials together by friction in the axial direction and Shear stress, shear strength laterally. The point of the nail is also sometimes bent over or ''clinched'' after driving to prevent pulling out. History The history of the nail is divided roughly into three distinct periods: * Hand-wrought (forged) nail (pre-history until 19th century) * Cut nail (ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
