A continuation patent application is a type of continuing application. Yes, “continuation” does have a separate meaning from “continuing,” and each are proper terms in patent-ese. A few weeks ago I wrote about divisional applications, which are another type of…
It is a rule we all learned in school: don’t procrastinate, don’t wait until the last minute. It is one I adhere to in my practice. There are enough complexities in the practice of patent law – adding poor timing…
Your ability to file and obtain a patent depends on many things. The novelty and non-obviousness of the invention may be foremost in your mind. However, other things are influential as well, such as the skill of the patent attorney…
What is an effective filing date? If you”ve done some reading about patents, you may have seen references to an “effective filing date.” For instance, while patent attorneys will often shorthand an explanation of patents by saying they offer protection…
Sorry, you can’t. You can’t patent just “an idea.” It isn’t allowed by the law. Patents are granted only for things, processes, machines, manufactured articles, inventions. Abstract ideas and theories, alone, cannot be patented. Recent Supreme Court law just…
At last, the claims! The heart of the patent! Appropriately bringing this series of explanatory posts to an end, the claims conclude a patent. A patent can have one claim or many; generally, though, they’ve got 20 or less because…
Next in my series of posts, a topic probably deceiving the pithy label recently given: the detailed description. This eponymous section of a patent actually needs more explanation than one might garner from its name alone: the detailed description goes beyond…
Continuing the post series explaining patents, we now address the drawing descriptions. The description of the drawings is just that. It refers to each drawing by number and explains what the drawing is. The description is brief – it isn’t…
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…