How Not to Write a Patent


Titles of patent applications can be puzzling. Some titles are simple, some complicated, some precise, others vague. The most important consideration is that a title be descriptive of the invention. There once was a segment of practitioners that would purposefully…
I was attempting to file a provisional application today in the USPTO’s no-longer-new-but-still-quite-buggy Patent Center filing system. I am glad I not up against a deadline today. I logged in, and a “Search Limit Reached” error message immediately popped up,…
Today in the Explaining Patents series: the background and field of invention section. The background generally comprises two parts: an explanation of the field of invention and a description of the prior art. The Patent Office rules suggest that it…
The Office of Inspector General recently found that while most patent examiners are truthful in reporting their hours worked, some have been compensated – at high cost – for hours they have not.
I’ve posted a basic description of the patenting process, from inventing to maintaining the patent. The video is a visual explanation of how an invention forms, how the patent application is prepared, filed, and processed, and what to do when…
Continuing the series of posts explaining the parts of a patent, today we move on the drawings. A drawing is required when it is necessary to understand the patent application. Most patent applications have drawings because drawings of the invention…