Inventor

Independent claim

A claim that stands on its own and does not reference any other claim. An independent claim defines the broadest scope of protection for a particular aspect of an invention. Most patents have one to three independent claims, each capturing the invention from a different angle, with multiple dependent claims narrowing each one.

Infringement

The unauthorized making, using, selling, or importing of a product or process that falls within the scope of a valid patent's claims. Infringement is determined by comparing each element of a patent claim to the accused product or process. If every element is present — literally or under the doctrine of equivalents — infringement exists.

Intellectual property (IP)

The legal category covering intangible creations of the mind that receive some form of legal protection. The four main types are patents (inventions), copyright (creative works), trademarks (brand identifiers), and trade secrets (confidential business information). Each type has different rules, durations, and protections — and they can overlap on the same product.

Inter partes review (IPR)

An administrative proceeding at the PTAB that allows any person to challenge the validity of an already-granted patent based on prior art in patents or printed publications. IPR is significantly faster and cheaper than district court litigation. Roughly 60% of patent claims that reach a final decision in IPR are canceled. Large companies frequently use IPR to challenge startup patents without going to court.

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.