Post-grant review (PGR)

Cross-referenced

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.

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

Written description

A requirement under 35 USC § 112 that an inventor must demonstrate, through the specification, that they actually possessed the claimed invention at the time of filing — not just that they had a vague idea. Written description is separate from enablement: enablement asks whether the reader can make the invention; written description asks whether the inventor had already conceived it. Failing the written description requirement is common when inventors try to add new matter to a continuation.

Patent family

The set of related patents and applications that share a common priority claim — an original application plus its continuations, divisionals, and foreign counterparts. Members of a family typically share the same earliest filing (priority) date.

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)

An international treaty allowing inventors to file a single "PCT application" that preserves the right to seek patent protection in 150+ member countries. A PCT filing buys time — typically 30 months from the priority date — before the applicant must commit to specific national filings. It is not a "world patent"; each country still examines and grants its own patent under its own laws.

Patent pending

A notice that a patent application has been filed with the USPTO but has not yet been examined or granted. "Patent pending" provides no legal protection against copying — it simply puts the public on notice that a patent may issue. If a patent does issue, the patentee may be able to collect reasonable royalties going back to the publication date of the application.