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Examiner

Definition

A USPTO employee trained in a specific technical field who reviews patent applications for compliance with patent law. Examiners search prior artprior artEarlier patents, publications, or products that existed before this patent's filing date. Patent claims must be novel over the prior art.Read more →, write office actions rejecting or allowing claimsclaimsThe numbered statements at the end of a patent that legally define what the inventor owns.Read more →, and conduct interviews with applicants or their attorneys. The examinerexaminerThe USPTO official who reviews a patent application and decides whether to grant it.Read more → assigned to your application has significant discretion in how they interpret your claims and apply prior art.

Related terms

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Enablement

A requirement under 35 USC § 112 that a patent's specification must teach someone skilled in the relevant field how to make and use the invention — without undue experimentation. If the specification fails to enable the full scope of what the claims cover, the patent is invalid for lack of enablement. This is one of the most frequent grounds for invalidating broad software and biotechnology patents.

Abstract

A brief summary (300 words or fewer) that appears at the top of every patent. The abstract describes what the invention does in general terms. Legally, it has almost no weight — courts use the claims to determine what a patent covers, not the abstract. The abstract is useful mainly for quickly scanning patents during a prior art search.

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.

Assignee

The legal owner of a patent, who may or may not be the inventor. When an employee invents something in the course of their employment, most companies require inventors to assign patent rights to the employer. The assignee appears on the patent document and has the right to license or enforce the patent.

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