# Terminal disclaimer

A document filed with the USPTO in which a patent applicant agrees that the term of a patent will end no later than the expiration of an earlier related patent. Terminal disclaimers are commonly required to overcome an "obviousness-type double patenting" rejection — which occurs when two related patents claim inventions that aren't patentably distinct from each other.

**Full entry:** https://patentbrief.org/glossary/terminal-disclaimer

**All patent terms:** https://patentbrief.org/glossary

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_Source: PatentBrief — https://patentbrief.org. A plain-English glossary of US patent terms._