Abstract

Cross-referenced

Claim

The numbered sentences at the end of a patent that define exactly what is legally protected. Claims are the only part of a patent that determine infringement — if a product or process doesn't fall within the scope of at least one claim, there is no infringement. Every other part of a patent (abstract, drawings, specification) exists to support and illuminate the claims.

Cross-referenced

Patent

A government-granted right that gives an inventor the exclusive right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or importing a patented invention within the country that granted the patent, for a limited time. A patent does not give the owner the right to practice the invention — only the right to exclude others. The US issues three types: utility, design, and plant patents.

Cross-referenced

Prior art

All publicly available information that existed before a patent's priority date that is relevant to the novelty and non-obviousness of the claimed invention. Prior art includes earlier patents, published patent applications, journal articles, product manuals, conference presentations, and anything that was publicly known or in use. Searching prior art before filing is one of the most valuable steps an inventor can take.

Anticipation

A legal standard for rejecting a patent claim. If every element of a claim was already disclosed in a single prior art reference — in a patent, article, or product — the claim is "anticipated" and cannot be patented. Anticipation requires a single source to contain every element; if you need two sources, it's an obviousness argument, not anticipation.

Appeal

A request to have a patent examiner's rejection reviewed by a higher authority. After receiving multiple rejections, an applicant can appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) within the USPTO, and from there to federal court. Appeals are expensive and slow, but sometimes necessary when an examiner applies the law incorrectly.

Art unit

A group of patent examiners at the USPTO who specialize in a particular technology area. Each application is assigned to the art unit whose examiners are trained in the relevant field. The art unit assignment matters because examiner expertise — and rejection rates — vary significantly across technology areas.