How Not to Write a Patent

Generally, no. Assignments are transfers of the entire interest in a patent from one entity to another. They are distinguished from licenses, which give another person a limited right to the patent. In the US, there is no requirement that…
Patents can be thought as a “bundle of rights.” An issued patent carries with it a number of exclusive rights, each of which can be divided up individually from the others – removed from the bundle like one of many…
There is a whole world of patent applications beyond the original nonprovisional patent application. There are provisional, plant, design, reissue, divisional, continuation, continued prosecution, and continuation-in-part applications. These last four applications are known as continuing applications, because they continue from…
Patent applications typically take quite a while to become actual patents. It’s currently taking between 2 and 4 years just to get the First Office Action from the Patent Office. There are a few ways to speed up the examination…
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…
Douglas Robinson, IP editor over at Slowtwitch, writes an interesting piece about patent protection in tri bikes, a subject near and dear to my heart. Take a look at it here. I believe bike technology is one of the most…