专利基础知识
一项发明专利是一项财产权利的发明者由美国专利和商标局（USPTO）颁发的助学金。 一般来说，一个新的专利期限为20其上的专利申请，已经在美国或在特殊情况下，从一个较早的日期相关的申请提出之日，受赡养费费，年。 美国专利补助是有效的只有在美国，美国领土，美国的财产。 在某些情况下，专利期限延长或调整可能可用。
所赋予的权利授予专利的是，在规约语言和授予自己“的权利，排除他人制造，使用，许诺销售或者销售”在美国发明或“进口”的发明进入美国。 什么是不授予权制造，使用，许诺销售，销售，进口，但有权排除他人制造，使用，许诺销售，销售或进口的发明。 专利一旦发出后，未经专利权人必须执行美国专利商标局援助的专利。
有三种专利类型：
1）实用专利可授予任何人谁发明或发现任何新的和有用的过程，机器，制造物品，或物质的成分，或任何新的和有用的改进所提出的;
2）设计专利的，可授予任何人谁发明了第一个制造一个新的，原来，和装饰设计;以及
3）植物专利可授予任何人谁发明或发现任何明显的繁殖和无性繁殖和植物新品种。
专利法
在美国宪法赋予国会有权制定法律中，有关专利，在第一条，第8条，即“国会有权。 。 。 以促进科学和实用技艺的进步，确保在有限时间内的作者和发明者的专利权各自的著作和发现。“根据这项权力国会不时颁布的有关专利的各种法律。 第一项专利法颁布于1790年。 专利法进行了总的修改是通过1952年7月19日，并生效1953年1月1日。 这是编纂在第35，美国法典。 此外，11月29日，1999年，美国国会颁布了1999年发明人保护法（AIPA），从而进一步修改了专利法。 见公法106-113，113 Stat的。 1501（1999）。
专利法规定的事项，有关的专利，可取得和申请专利的条件。 该法规定美国专利和商标办公室管理有关的法律给予专利，并包含各种有关专利的其他规定。
什么可以申请专利
专利法规定的事项，可以申请专利，专利的下一个可能获得的条件一般领域。
在规约语言，任何人谁“发明或发现任何新的和有用的过程，机器，制造，或物质的成分，或任何新的和有用的改进所提出的，可能获得专利，”在符合条件和要求的法律。 这个“过程”是指由法律作为一个过程，行为或方法，主要包括工业或技术工艺。 所谓“机”在本规约使用，无须解释。 所谓“生产”是指所做的文章，包括所有制品。 所谓“物质结构”有关化学成分，并可能包括成分的混合物，以及新的化合物。 一起标的物所采取的这些类别包括几乎一切是由男人和程序所作出的产品。
在1954年原子能法排除了发明专利的特殊核材料或核能源利用有用的原子武器仅南加州大学42 2181（1）。
专利法规定，标的物必须是“有用的。”而“有用”是指在这方面，条件是该标的物有一个有用的目的，而且还包括可操作性，即一台机器将无法运行执行预期的目的，也不会被称为有益的，因此不会被授予专利。
该法院规约所定义的诠释题材，可以申请专利的领域限制，因此它已被认为是自然规律，物理现象，抽象的观念不授予专利权的主题。
一个不能获得专利后，只有意见或建议。 该专利被授予后，新的机器，制造等，正如人们所说，并不取决于思想或新机器的建议。 一个实际的机器或其他事项，有关的专利，需要寻求完整的描述。
新颖性和非显而易见性，获取一项专利的条件
在对一项发明要获得专利，必须是新的专利法，其中规定，一项发明不能申请专利，如果：“（一）发明被称为或使用他人在这个国家，或专利或描述的定义在这个或印刷出版物外国前由其中发明专利申请人，“或”（二）发明专利或描述在一个或一本印刷的出版物外国或在公共场所使用或出售该国一年多前在美国专利申请。 。 “。
如果该发明已在印刷出版物中描述在世界任何地方，或者如果它是已知或使用他人的日期之前，在这个国家，该申请人使他/她的发明，专利不能获得。 如果该发明已在印刷出版物中描述的任何地方，或超过前一年上一个专利申请提出之日起在这个国家已经公开使用或出售在这个国家，一个不能获得专利。 在这方面，它是在无关紧要的发明了，还是印刷出版或公开使用自己的发明被/自己或别人。 如果发明者介绍了印刷出版或使用该发明的发明公开，或出售它的地方，他/她必须申请专利前一年已经过去了，否则任何专利权将会丢失。 发明人必须提交有关公众使用或披露日期，但是，为了保持在许多外国专利权。
即使此事寻求获得专利是不完全的现有技术显示，涉及一个或多个已知的分歧，最近类似的事情，一个专利可能仍然被拒绝，如果差异是显而易见的。 此事寻求获得专利，必须有足够的不同从已使用或描述之前，它可以说是具有差异性，以一个人在相关技术领域的普通技术发明。 例如，在另一种颜色，大小的变化或替代，通常不授予专利权。
美国专利和商标局
国会成立了美国专利和商标局（USPTO或办公室），签发代表政府的专利。 作为一个从1802年时，在国家谁被称为“专利警司署另一项官方称为”被放置在不同的专利主管局的日期专利局。 在1836年颁布的专利法的修订和重新组织了专利局指定的专利专员，作为负责人。 专利局仍然在国务院，直到1849年当它被移交给内政部。 1925年它被转移到了商务部在今天。 该专利局更名为专利和商标局在1975年改为美国专利和商标局于2000年。
美国专利和商标局负责管理的专利法，因为它们涉及到授予发明专利，并执行有关专利的其他职责。 它审查专利申请，以确定该申请人有权根据法律授予的专利和专利时，如此有权，它出版发行的专利，大部分专利申请日或之后提交的2000年11月29日在18个月，从最早的申请日期和有关专利的各种出版物;专利记录任务;保持供公众使用的搜索空间，已授权专利审查和记录;和用品份记录和其他文件，等等。 类似的功能方面进行了商标注册。 美国专利商标局没有对侵权问题的管辖权和专利执法工作。
该办公室的负责人是副局长商务部知识产权和美国专利和商标局处长（处长）。 处长的工作人员包括美国商务部和美国专利商标局副，对专利专员，专员商标及其他官员局副主任。 作为办公室主任，主任或执行督察工作的所有职责给予尊重和专利发行和申请注册商标;演习在美国专利商标局的全部工作的全面监督;规定的规则，受到了商务部长的批准，为在美国专利商标局的程序进行，并为律师和代理人的承认;决定之前，由信访办的各种问题所带来的规则规定，并进行必要的其他职责和对美国专利和商标管理规定办公室。
在审查专利申请的工作划分为技术的研究中心（班），每个班有在某些技术领域的管辖权分配的数量。 每个班的负责人是由集团董事及检验员和辅助人员组成的。 专利审查员的审查申请，并确定是否可以授予专利权。 上诉申请可采取的专利上诉和干扰他们的决定拒绝授予专利委员会和一个由美国专利商标局Director检讨，将可能由其他事项呈请了。 主考人员还确认哪些应用程序要求得到同样的发明，并可能提起诉讼，称作为干扰，以确定谁是第一个发明者。
除了研究热带气旋，其他部门执行，如接收和分发邮件，各种服务，接受新的申请，处理专利印刷复制品的销售，使记录的副本，检查图纸和记录工作。 目前，美国专利商标局拥有超过6,500名员工，其中约一半是检验员和技术和法律培训等。 收到专利申请的速度超过每年35万。 该办公室收到的邮件超过500万件每年。
图书馆，查阅室搜索，专利和商标托存图书馆
科学和技术信息中心美国专利和商标局位于1C35麦迪逊西，600达拉尼街，亚历山大，弗吉尼亚州，拥有超过12万册书籍的科学和技术的公共使用不同的语言，约90,000合订本可用致力于科学和技术，国外专利77个组织的官方杂志，期刊和4000多万纸，缩微胶卷，缩微胶片外国专利，和CD - ROM。 科学和技术信息中心是从8:00上午向公众开放至周五下午6:00，星期一除外联邦假日。
许多发明家试图把前一专利的申请专利之前，他们对自己的搜索和出版物。 这可能是在自己的专利检索室美国专利商标局，并在图书馆，在整个美国，已经为专利和商标托存图书馆（PTDLs）指定的位置。 发明人可以通过美国专利和出版物初步搜索发现，如果一个特定的发明或类似于它已经在以前的专利证明。 一个发明家也可以聘请专利律师或代理人进行初步搜索。 此搜索可能不被视为完整的，到了美国专利商标局提出申请期间，检查，但只是，正如其名称所示，一个初步的目的。 基于这个原因，专利审查员可以而且经常拒绝在一次事先申请专利或刊物的基础上声称没有发现在初步搜索。
这些谁不能来的专利检索室可命令从原专利或在组成的搜索领域的子类，包含交叉引用专利列出了美国专利商标局的副本或可能检查和取得的专利和商标专利的副本托存图书馆。 该PTDLs收到美国专利当前的问题和保持先前发出的专利和商标信息集合。 这些收藏品的范围各有不同库库，从近几年的专利只有全部或自1790年以来发行的大部分专利。
这些专利的集合是开放给公众使用。 每个PTDLs，此外，提供了美国专利分类系统（如分类手册，美国专利索引分类系统，分类定义，等）以及其他形式的专利文件和出版物，并提供技术人员协助在其使用，以帮助获得有效的专利中获取信息的公开。 的馆藏举办专利数列。
在所有PTDLs可用是卡西斯的CD - ROM系统。 随着各种文件，它允许适当的分类，有效识别搜索，提供了分配到一个分类，以方便寻找的专利文件中的数值专利专利的数量，提供了当前分类（了所有的专利），许可证上搜寻字分类标题，和摘要，并提供了一些最近发布的专利文献信息。
为使从缩微胶片拷贝纸，纸张合订本或CD - ROM的设施，一般提供的收费。
其中PTDLs和公众的服务时间，由于其在专利范围变化的集合，任何人都考虑了在一个特定的库中的专利使用该库应事先联系，约其收集，服务，小时，以避免可能造成的不便。 如需PTDLs完整列表，请参阅美国专利商标局网站www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/ptdl/站点。
律师和代理人
一个专利申请的准备和在美国专利和商标局（USPTO或办公室）的程序进行，以取得专利事业是需要对专利法和规则及办公实践和程序，以及知识在特定的知识发明所涉及的科学和技术问题。
发明家可以准备他们自己的应用程序和文件在他们和美国专利商标局进行了程序本身，但除非它们与这些事情熟悉或仔细研究他们，他们可能会得到相当的困难。 虽然专利可能在许多情况下无法获得的人在这方面的工作技能，就没有保证，而该专利将得到充分保护的特殊发明。
大多数的注册专利的发明人聘请律师或专利代理的服务。 美国专利商标局法律赋予的权力，制定规则和条例的行为和专利律师和代理人承认在美国专利商标局的做法。 谁不是由美国专利商标局的这种做法是不承认的人在法律允许的代表在美国专利商标局发明。 美国专利商标局维护着一个律师和代理人名册。 要承认这个寄存器，一个人必须遵守的办公室，这需要证明此人是良好的道德品格和良好的声誉，他/她在法律上，科学和必要的技术法规所规定的资格使专利申请人提供有价值的服务。 这表明一些资格必须通过一项考试及格。 那些承认考试必须在科学或工程或物理的这种程度相当于大学学位。
美国专利商标局登记在法律上和人谁不是在双方律师法律师。 前者人现被称为“专利代理人”的人士，后者被称为“专利代理人。”无论是专利律师和专利代理人获准准备一件专利申请和美国专利商标局进行起诉。 专利代理，但是，不能在法院进行专利诉讼或执行该所在地视为执业的律师，各种服务。 例如，专利代理无法拟出一份合同有关，如转让或许可给了专利，如果国家在他/她认为作为执业的律师，居住在起草合同。
一些个人和未注册的组织在宣传领域的发明专利和搜索营销和开发服务。 这些个人和组织不能代表美国专利商标局发明之前。 他们不受美国专利商标局的纪律，但美国专利商标局确实提供了一个公开论坛（http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/iip/complaints.htm）在有关的投诉和反应发明发起人/推广公司都出版。
聘请专利律师或代理人，该发明人执行的授权书是在美国专利商标局备案，并记录在应用程序文件的权力。 当注册律师或代理人已被任命，办事处不与发明人进行直接，但与律师或代理人的通信，因为他/她是为发明人代理此后虽然是免费的发明者美国专利商标局联系有关情况他/她的申请。 发明人可以撤销删除委托书律师或代理人。
美国专利商标局有权取消其律师资格，或暂停执业之前，严重行为不检等人有罪，但是这只能是在一个明确的和令人信服的证据提交有关的不当行为进行全面聆讯。 美国专利商标局会在适当情况下获得的，可对投诉律师和代理人的行为。 其专业服务收费由律师和专利代理人发明人的费用，不受监管的美国专利商标局。 明确的证据可以负担的收费过高美国专利商标局行动的基础，但该办公室很少干预有关费用的纠纷。
披露文件的方案
由美国专利和商标局（USPTO或Office）提供的服务是接受和两个“披露文件，作为对一项发明的受孕日期的证据”年保存。
一份文件披露的发明（称为披露文件），并经签署的发明人或发明可能转交由发明人（或任何发明时，有美国专利商标局联合发明人之一），由发明人或所有人由律师或发明人（代理人）或所有人。 披露文件将被保留两年，然后被销毁，除非它是指在一个在相关的专利两年内提出申请单独信。
信息披露文件不是一份专利申请。 其在美国专利商标局收据日期将不会成为任何专利申请中的有效申请日期随后提交。
这些文件将被存放在没有按照美国专利商标局公布35南加州大学有信心122（二），有效00年11月29日。
这个程序没有削弱传统的见证，永久绑定值，和页面编号的笔记本电脑或作为实验室的发明构思的证据公证记录，但应提供更可信的证据形式相比，通过提供的邮寄一个对自己或其他人以挂号邮件的披露。
警告发明者
为期两年的保留期是不是一个“宽限期”期间，发明者可以等待文件，而不丧失的利益的可能，他或她的专利申请。 必须认识到，在建立发明，一誓章或证词优先指的是信息披露文件，通常也必须建立在完成发明或备案后的信息披露文件提交专利申请的努力。
发明家也提醒市民，任何使用或在美国或出售发明的出版物在世界任何地方一年多前，一个关于该发明专利申请的申请将禁止它的一对美国的专利授权。 在这方面外国专利法可能会远远超过美国法律的限制。
欲了解更多有关信息披露文件，请访问美国专利商标局网站www.uspto.gov网站/网络/办公室/委员会/ disdo.html。
临时专利的申请
也有发明家的专利申请临时应用程序选项。 临时申请详细介绍如下。 为了得到更多的临时申请的资料，请访问调用请求美国专利商标局网站或打印小册子800-786-9199或703-308-4357。
专利和商标托存图书馆（PTDLs）
一些专利和商标托存图书馆（PTDLs）参加了在接受根据提交的文件披露文件的方案美国专利商标局的授权代理人。 这项服务提供了一个完成的交易在PTDL现场。 文件收到一个识别号码和日期在收货的PTDL时间。 原装文件送交处理和保存美国专利商标局。
一PTDL库列表中可以找到的官方公报和美国专利商标局网站。 专利和专利有关的参考资料集，可于PTDLs全国性网络。 联系PTDL之前，您的访问，以了解其馆藏，服务和时间。
独立发明人的资源
一个美国专利商标局的网站（www.uspto.gov /网络/办公室/的COM /国际投资头寸）用于独立发明（网站的标题是“独立发明资源”），并提供广泛的材料覆盖了大部分专利方面的一节和商标的过程。 该网站还致力教育的欺诈发明开发和市场营销公司和诈骗，可能影响这些发明家，并提供提示和警告避免这些诈骗迹象独立发明家。 该网站还发布对这些企业的投诉，并从他们收到任何答复。 该网站还提供与其他美国专利商标局网站的链接，以及其他联邦机构的联系。
发明援助中心（IAC）的提供了主要联络的独立发明者社会和公众披露有关申请文件，临时专利申请，或定期，非临时专利申请的一般信息。
出版专利申请
专利申请所必需的出版，是美国发明人保护法1999年对大多数植物和实用新型专利申请日或之后提交2000年11月29日。 对植物或实用的应用程序或以后2000年11月29日，申请人提交的申请，可以请求不会被发表，但只有当该发明有没有也不会是在外国提出过申请的课题，需要申请后18个月（或更早声称优先权日出版），或根据专利合作条约。 出版后发生的18个月内有效后最早申请日或优先权要求的申请之日起失效。 继出版，该专利应用已不再是由在Office和任何市民信心保持可要求获得该文件的应用程序的整个历史。
由于出版的结果，申请人可以断言临时权利。 这些权利提供一个机会获得来自第三方的侵犯已发布的应用程序要求专利权人合理的使用费提供的实际发出通知申请人向第三方，从一个大大相同的索偿申请专利的问题。 因此，预另一专利，现已发放侵权损害赔偿。
宣誓或声明，签名
宣誓或申请人（发明声明）是法律要求的非临时申请。 发明人必须作出宣誓或声明，他/她相信他/她是该应用程序的标的物原和第一发明人，他/她必须通过法律和美国专利商标局要求各报表所需的各种其他报表规则。 如果应用程序数据表提出，美国专利商标局的规则要求在宣誓或声明较少发言。 见标题37，联邦规例，守则第1.63和1.76。 在宣誓之前，必须宣誓公证人或其他获授权监誓的发明者。 声明可以用在宣誓代替。 宣誓或声明都需要涉及设计，植物的申请，发明和实用程序和补发申请。 阿声明并不需要公证。 被申请人提出分案申请或延续了宣誓或声明的副本提交的在先申请可能被使用。
该宣誓或声明必须亲自签署的发明者，或由法律有权的人就发明的名义申请。 一个完整的姓氏和名字的中间初始或名称，如果有的话，和每个公民的发明者是必需的。 每个发明者和外国优先权的信息（如果有的话）如果一个应用程序也需要数据表不使用的邮件地址。
存档，搜索，考试费
专利申请受基本费，而包括搜索费，考试费，发行费和额外费用。 这些费用是由于在提出申请时。 美国专利商标局咨询网站的现行收费http://www.uspto.gov。 额外的申请费是由于如果有超过3个独立的索赔，索赔总额超过20，或者如果张纸张总数的规范和要求对100。 如果应用程序包含多个从属权利要求，需要额外的费用。
如果发明的拥有人是一个小实体，（一个独立的发明家，小企业担心或非营利组织），大部分费用减少一半，如果小实体的地位是索赔。 如果小实体的地位，是理想和适当的，申请人应缴交文件，除申请费的小实体的小实体地位的书面声明。 书面的说法可能是对诸如“申请人送一封信简单的声明称小实体的地位。”申请人声称小实体的地位应该作出调查，以作为是否是合适的小实体的地位之前声称这种地位。
在计算费用，一个说法是，如果奇依赖参照采用了单一在前的权利，可能是一个独立或从属权利要求。 阿多项从属权利要求，或根据任何由此索赔应视为单独的依赖性按照要求对索偿作出提到这些数字。
该法还规定，是申请了额外的费用后，就提出索赔申请额外支付。 提出修正案时，其中逾已支付或其它独立以上的独立权利要求索赔数已占总数的额外要求，必须附有适当的任何额外费用。
大部分收费如有变动，于每年10月。
规格（说明书和权利要求）
该安排应遵循以下顺序在制订该应用程序：
（一）申请表格传送。
（二）费用的形式传送。
（三）申请数据表。
（四）规范。
（五）图纸。
（六）签署宣誓或声明。
该规范应具有以下部分，以便：
（1）发明的名称。
（2）参照相关的应用程序（如有）。 （相关应用程序可能会列出一个应用程序的数据表，与目前在规范中列出。以取代或共同）
（3）联邦赞助的研究声明/发展（如有）。
（4）参考一个“序列表”，一张桌子，或计算机程序清单附录光盘上提交并通过对光盘材料引用的结合。 该光盘包括重复和每个光盘上的文件的总人数应被指定。
（5）发明背景。
（六）发明小结。
（7）简要的绘图（如果有多个视图的描述）。
（8）发明的详细说明。
（9）的权利要求。
（10）披露的摘要。
（11）序列表（如有）。
该规范必须包括该发明的书面说明和方式，制作和使用它的过程，需要在这种充分，清晰，简洁，准确的条件是，以使任何人在技术领域的技术本发明涉及，或与它连接的最近，制造和使用的相同。
该规范规定必须以区别于其他的发明，并从什么是旧的确切发明的方式，有关的专利索取。 它必须描述完全是这一进程的具体体现，机械，制造，物质组成，或改进发明的，而且必须说明的运作模式或原则时适用。 最好的方式由实施该发明的发明人必须提出设想。
在一个改善的情况下，规范必须特别指出的部分或加工零件，机械，制造，或物质成分的改善涉及哪些，并说明应限于具体改善，并作为有关部分necessarily cooperate with it or as may be necessary to a complete understanding or description of it.
The title of the invention, which should be as short and specific as possible (no more than 500 characters), should appear as a heading on the first page of the specification, if it does not otherwise appear at the beginning of the application. A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification including that which is new in the art to which the invention pertains, must be set forth on a separate page preferably following the claims. The abstract should be in the form of a single paragraph of 150 words or less.
A brief summary of the invention indicating its nature and substance, which may include a statement of the object of the invention should precede the detailed description. The summary should be commensurate with the invention as claimed and any object recited should be that of the invention as claimed.
When there are drawings, there shall be a brief description of the several views of the drawings, and the detailed description of the invention shall refer to the different views by specifying the numbers of the figures, and to the different parts by use of reference numerals.
The specification must conclude with a claim or claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter that the applicant regards as the invention. The portion of the application in which the applicant sets forth the claim or claims is an important part of the application, as it is the claims that define the scope of the protection afforded by the patent and which questions of infringement are judged by the courts.
More than one claim may be presented provided they differ substantially from each other and are not unduly multiplied. One or more claims may be presented in dependent form, referring back to and further limiting another claim or claims in the same application. Any dependent claim which refers back to more than one other claim is considered a “multiple dependent claim.”
Multiple dependent claims shall refer to such other claims in the alternative only. A multiple dependent claim shall not serve as a basis for any other multiple dependent claim. Claims in dependent form shall be construed to include all of the limitations of the claim incorporated by reference into the dependent claim. A multiple dependent claim shall be construed to incorporate all the limitations of each of the particular claims in relation to which it is being considered.
The claim or claims must conform to the invention as set forth in the remainder of the specification and the terms and phrases used in the claims must find clear support or antecedent basis in the description so that the meaning of the terms in the claims may be ascertainable by reference to the description.
Models, Exhibits, And Specimens
Models or exhibits are not required in most patent applications since the description of the invention in the specification and the drawings must be sufficiently full, clear, and complete and capable of being understood to disclose the invention without the aid of a model.
A working model, or other physical exhibit, may be required by the Office if deemed necessary. This is not done very often. A working model may be requested in the case of applications for patent for alleged perpetual motion devices.
When the invention relates to a composition of matter, the applicant may be required to furnish specimens of the composition, or of its ingredients or intermediates, for inspection or experiment. If the invention is a microbiological invention, a deposit of the micro-organism involved is required.
Examination of Applications and Proceedings in the United States Patent and Trademark Office
Applications, other than provisional applications, filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) and accepted as complete applications are assigned for examination to the respective examining technology centers (TC) having charge of the areas of technology related to the invention. In the examining TC, applications are taken up for examination by the examiner to whom they have been assigned in the order in which they have been filed or in accordance with examining procedures established by the Director.
Applications will not be advanced out of turn for examination or for further action except as provided by the rules, or upon order of the Director to expedite the business of the Office, or upon a showing which, in the opinion of the Director, will justify advancing them.
The examination of the application consists of a study of the application for compliance with the legal requirements and a search through US patents, publications of patent applications, foreign patent documents, and available literature, to see if the claimed invention is new, useful and nonobvious and if the application meets the requirements of the patent statute and rules of practice. If the examiner's decision on patentability is favorable, a patent is granted.
On the average, patents are granted in of about two out of every three applications for patents which are filed.
限制
If two or more inventions are claimed in a single application, and are regarded by the Office to be of such a nature (eg independent and distinct) that a single patent should not be issued for both of them, the applicant will be required to limit the application to one of the inventions. The other invention may be made the subject of a separate application which, if filed while the first application is still pending, will be entitled to the benefit of the filing date of the first application. A requirement to restrict the application to one invention may be made before further action by the examiner.
Office Action
The applicant is notified in writing of the examiner's decision by an Office “action” which is normally mailed to the attorney or agent of record. The reasons for any adverse action or any objection or requirement are stated in the Office action and such information or references are given as may be useful in aiding the applicant to judge the propriety of continuing the prosecution of his/her application.
If the claimed invention is not directed to patentable subject matter, the claims will be rejected. If the examiner finds that the claimed invention lacks novelty or differs only in an obvious manner from what is found in the prior art, the claims may also be rejected. It is not uncommon for some or all of the claims to be rejected on the first Office action by the examiner; relatively few applications are allowed as filed.
Applicant's Reply
The applicant must request reconsideration in writing, and must distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the examiner's Office action. The applicant must reply to every ground of objection and rejection in the prior Office action. The applicant's reply must appear throughout to be a bona fide attempt to advance the case to final action or allowance. The mere allegation that the examiner has erred will not be received as a proper reason for such reconsideration.
In amending an application in reply to a rejection, the applicant must clearly point out why he/she thinks the amended claims are patentable in view of the state of the art disclosed by the prior references cited or the objections made. He/she must also show how the claims as amended avoid such references or objections. After reply by the applicant, the application will be reconsidered, and the applicant will be notified as to the status of the claims, that is, whether the claims are rejected, or objected to, or whether the claims are allowed, in the same manner as after the first examination. The second Office action usually will be made final.
Interviews with examiners may be arranged, but an interview does not remove the necessity of replying to Office actions within the required time.
Final Rejection
On the second or later consideration, the rejection or other action may be made final. The applicant's reply is then limited to appeal in the case of rejection of any claim and further amendment is restricted. Petition may be taken to the Director in the case of objections or requirements not involved in the rejection of any claim. Reply to a final rejection or action must include cancellation of, or appeal from the rejection of, each claim so rejected and, if any claim stands allowed, compliance with any requirement or objection as to form. In making such final rejection, the examiner repeats or states all grounds of rejection then considered applicable to the claims in the application.
Amendments to Application
The applicant may amend the application as specified in the rules, or when and as specifically required by the examiner.
Amendments received in the Office on or before the mail date of the first Office action are called “preliminary amendments,” and their entry is governed by 37 CFR 1.115. Amendments in reply to a non-final Office action are governed by CFR 1.111. Amendments filed after final action are governed by 37CFR 1.116 and 37CFR 41.33.
The specification, claims, and drawing must be amended and revised when required, to correct inaccuracies of description and definition or unnecessary words, and to provide substantial correspondence between the claims, the description, and the drawing. All amendments of the drawings or specification, and all additions thereto must not include new matter beyond the original disclosure. Matter not found in either, involving a departure from or an addition to the original disclosure, cannot be added to the application even if supported by a supplemental oath or declaration, and can be shown or claimed only in a separate application.
The manner of making amendments to an application is provided in 37 CFR 1.121. Amendments to the specification (but not including the claims) must be made by adding, deleting or replacing a paragraph, by replacing a section, or by a substitute specification, as provided in the rules. Replacement paragraphs are to include markings (eg, underlining and strikethrough) to show all changes relative to the previous version of the paragraph. New paragraphs are to be provided without any underlining. If a substitute specification is filed, it must be submitted with markings (eg, underlining and strikethrough) showing all the changes relative to the immediate prior version of the specification of record, it must be accompanied by a statement that the substitute specification includes no new matter, and it must be accompanied by a clean version without markings.
No change in the drawing may be made except by permission of the Office. Changes in the construction shown in any drawing may be made only by submitting replacement drawing sheets, each of which must be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in its top margin if replaces an existing drawing sheet. Any replacement sheet of drawings must include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is amended. Any new sheet of drawings containing an additional figure must be labeled in the top margin as “New Sheet.” All changes to the drawings must be explained, in detail, in either the drawing amendment or remarks section of the amendment paper.
Amendments to the claims are to be made by presenting all of the claims in a claim listing which replaces all prior versions of the claims in the application. In the claim listing, the status of every claim must be indicated after its claim number after using one of the seven parenthetical expressions set forth in 37 CFR 1.121(c). “Currently amended” claims must be submitted with markings (eg, underlining and strikethrough). All pending claims not being currently amended must be presented in the claim listing in clean version without any markings (eg, underlining and strikethrough).
The original numbering of the claims must be preserved throughout the prosecution. When claims are canceled, the remaining claims must not be renumbered. When claims are added by amendment or substituted for canceled claims, they must be numbered by the applicant consecutively beginning with the number next following the highest numbered claim previously presented. When the application is ready for allowance, the examiner, if necessary, will renumber the claims consecutively in the order in which they appear or in such order as may have been requested by applicant.
Time for Reply and Abandonment
The reply of an applicant to an action by the Office must be made within a prescribed time limit. The maximum period for reply is set at six months by the statute (35 USC 133) which also provides that the Director may shorten the time for reply to not less than 30 days. The usual period for reply to an Office action is three months. A shortened time for reply may be extended up to the maximum six-month period. An extension of time fee is normally required to be paid if the reply period is extended. The amount of the fee is dependent upon the length of the extension. Extensions of time are generally not available after an application has been allowed. If no reply is received within the time period, the application is considered as abandoned and no longer pending. However, if it can be shown that the failure to prosecute was unavoidable or unintentional, the application may be revived upon request to and approval by the Director. The revival requires a petition to the Director, and a fee for the petition, which must be filed without delay. The proper reply must also accompany the petition if it has not yet been filed.
Appeal to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences and to the Courts
If the examiner persists in the rejection of any of the claims in an application, or if the rejection has been made final, the applicant may appeal to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences consists of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO, the Commissioner for Patents, and the administrative patent judges, but normally each appeal is heard by only three members. An appeal fee is required and the applicant must file a brief to support his/her position. An oral hearing will be held if requested upon payment of the specified fee.
As an alternative to appeal, in situations where an applicant desires consideration of different claims or further evidence, a request for continued examination (RCE) or a continuation application is often filed. For the requirements for filing an RCE, see 37 CFR 1.114. An RCE is not available in an application for a design patent, but a continuation of a design application may be filed as a Continued
Prosecution Application (CPA) under 37 CFR 1.53(d).
If the decision of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences is still adverse to the applicant, an appeal may be taken to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or a civil action may be filed against the Director in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will review the record made in the Office and may affirm or reverse the Office's action. In a civil action, the applicant may present testimony in the court, and the court will make a decision.
Interferences
Occasionally two or more applications are filed by different inventors claiming substantially the same patentable invention. The patent can only be granted to one of them, and a proceeding known as an “interference” is instituted by the Office to determine who is the first inventor and entitled to the patent. About one percent of the applications filed become involved in an interference proceeding. Interference proceedings may also be instituted between an application and a patent already issued, provided that the patent has not been issued, nor the application been published, for more than one year prior to the filing of the conflicting application, and provided also that the conflicting application is not barred from being patentable for some other reason.
Each party to such a proceeding must submit evidence of facts proving when the invention was made. In view of the necessity of proving the various facts and circumstances concerning the making of the invention during an interference, inventors must be able to produce evidence to do this. If no evidence is submitted a party is restricted to the date of filing the application as his/her earliest date. The priority question is determined by a board of three administrative patent judges on the evidence submitted. From the decision of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, the losing party may appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or file a civil action against the winning party in the appropriate United States district court.
The terms “conception of the invention” and “reduction to practice” are encountered in connection with priority questions. Conception of the invention refers to the completion of the devising of the means for accomplishing the result. Reduction to practice refers to the actual construction of the invention in physical form: in the case of a machine it includes the actual building of the machine, in the case of an article or composition it includes the actual making of the article or composition, in the case of a process it includes the actual carrying out of the steps of the process. Actual operation, demonstration, or testing for the intended use is also usually necessary. The filing of a regular application for patent completely disclosing the invention is treated as equivalent to reduction to practice. The inventor who proves to be the first to conceive the invention and the first to reduce it to practice will be held to be the prior inventor, but more complicated situations cannot be stated this simply.
Allowance and Issue of Patent
If, on examination of the application, or at a later stage during the reconsideration of the application, the patent application is found to be allowable, a Notice of Allowance and Fee(s) Due will be sent to the applicant, or to applicant's attorney or agent of record, if any, and a fee for issuing the patent and if applicable, for publishing the patent application publication (see 37 CFR 1.211-1.221), is due within three months from the date of the notice. If timely payment of the fee(s) is not made, the application will be regarded as abandoned. See the current fee schedule at www.uspto.gov.
The Director may accept the fee(s) late, if the delay is shown to be unavoidable (35 USC 41, 37 CFR 1.137(a)) or unintentional (35 USC 151, 37 CFR 1.137(b)). When the required fee are paid, the patent issues as soon as possible after the date of payment, dependent upon the volume of printing on hand. The patent grant then is delivered or mailed on the day of its grant, or as soon thereafter as possible, to the inventor's attorney or agent if there is one of record, otherwise directly to the inventor. On the date of the grant, the patent file becomes open to the public for applications not opened earlier by publication of the application.
In cases where the publication of an application or the granting of a patent would be detrimental to the national security, the Comissioner of Patents will order that the invention be kept secret and shall withhold the publication of the application or the grant of the patent for such period as the national interest requires. The owner of an application which has been placed under a secrecy order has a right to appeal from the order to the Secretary of Commerce. 35 USC 181.
Patent Term Extension and Adjustment
The terms of certain patents may be subject to extension or adjustment under 35 USC 154(b). Such extension or adjustment results from certain specified types of delays which may occur while an application is pending before the Office.
Utility and plant patents which issue from original applications filed between June 8, 1995 and May 28, 2000 may be eligible for patent term extension (PTE) as set forth in 37 CFR 1.701. Such PTE may result from delays due to interference proceedings under 35 USC 135(a), secrecy orders under 35 USC 181, or successful appellate review.
Utility and plant patents which issue from original applications filed on or after May 29, 2000 may be eligible for patent term adjustment (PTA) as set forth in 37 CFR 1.702 – 1.705. There are three main bases for PTA under 35 USC 154(b). The first basis for PTA is the failure of the Office to take certain actions within specific time frames set forth in 35 USC 154(b)(1)(A) (See 37 CFR 1.702(a) and 1.703(a)). The second basis for PTA is the failure of the Office to issue a patent within three years of the actual filing date of the application as set forth in 35 USC 154(b)(1)(B) (See 37 CFR 1.702(b) and 1.703(b)). The third basis for PTA is set forth in 35 USC 154(b)(1)(C), and includes delays due to interference proceedings under 35 USC 135(a), secrecy orders under 35 USC 181, or successful appellate review (See 37 CFR 1.702(c)-(e) and 1.703(c)-(e)).
Any PTA which has accrued in an application will be reduced by the time period during which an applicant failed to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude prosecution of the application pursuant to 35 USC 154(b)(2)(C). A non-exclusive list of activities which constitute failure to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude prosecution is set forth in 37 CFR 1.704.
An initial PTA value is printed on the notice of allowance and fee(s) due, and a final PTA value is printed on the front of the patent. Any request for reconsideration of the PTA value printed on the notice of allowance and fee(s) due should be made in the form of an application for patent term adjustment, which must be filed prior to or at the same time as the payment of the issue fee. (See 37 CFR 1.705.)
Nature of Patent and Patent Rights
The patent is issued in the name of the United States under the seal of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and is either signed by the Director of the USPTO or is electronically written thereon and attested by an Office official. The patent contains a grant to the patentee, and a printed copy of the specification and drawing is annexed to the patent and forms a part of it. The grant confers “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States” and its territories and possessions for which the term of the patent shall be generally 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, if the application contains a specific reference to an earlier filed application under 35 USC 120, 121 or 365(c), from the date of the earliest such application was filed, and subject to the payment of maintenance fees as provided by law.
The exact nature of the right conferred must be carefully distinguished, and the key is in the words “right to exclude” in the phrase just quoted. The patent does not grant the right to make, use, offer for sale or sell or import the invention but only grants the exclusive nature of the right. Any person is ordinarily free to make, use, offer for sale or sell or import anything he/she pleases, and a grant from the government is not necessary. The patent only grants the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale or selling or importing the invention. Since the patent does not grant the right to make, use, offer for sale, or sell, or import the invention, the patentee's own right to do so is dependent upon the rights of others and whatever general laws might be applicable. A patentee, merely because he/she has received a patent for an invention, is not thereby authorized to make, use, offer for sale, or sell, or import the invention if doing so would violate any law. An inventor of a new automobile who has obtained a patent thereon would not be entitled to use the patented automobile in violation of the laws of a state requiring a license, nor may a patentee sell an article, the sale of which may be forbidden by a law, merely because a patent has been obtained.
Neither may a patentee make, use, offer for sale, or sell, or import his/her own invention if doing so would infringe the prior rights of others. A patentee may not violate the federal antitrust laws, such as by resale price agreements or entering into combination in restraints of trade, or the pure food and drug laws, by virtue of having a patent. Ordinarily there is nothing that prohibits a patentee from making, using, offering for sale, or selling, or importing his/her own invention, unless he/she thereby infringes another's patent which is still in force. For example, a patent for an improvement of an original device already patented would be subject to the patent on the device.
The term of the patent shall be generally 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, if the application contains a specific reference to an earlier filed application under 35 USC 120, 121 or 365(c), from the date of the earliest such application was filed, and subject to the payment of maintenance fees as provided by law. A maintenance fee is due 3 1/2, 7 1/2 and 11 1/2 years after the original grant for all patents issuing from the applications filed on and after December 12, 1980. The maintenance fee must be paid at the stipulated times to maintain the patent in force. After the patent has expired anyone may make, use, offer for sale, or sell or import the invention without permission of the patentee, provided that matter covered by other unexpired patents is not used. The terms may be extended for certain pharmaceuticals and for certain circumstances as provided by law.
Maintenance Fees
All utility patents that issue from applications filed on and after December 12, 1980 are subject to the payment of maintenance fees which must be paid to maintain the patent in force. These fees are due at 3 1/2, 7 1/2 and 11 1/2 years from the date the patent is granted and can be paid without a surcharge during the “window-period” which is the six-month period preceding each due date, eg, three years to three years and six months. (See fee schedule for a list of maintenance fees.) In submitting maintenance fees and any necessary surcharges, identification of the patents for which maintenance fees are being paid must include the patent number, and the application number of the US application for the patent on which the maintenance fee is being paid. If the payment includes identification of only the patent number, the Office may apply payment to the to the patent identified by patent number in the payment or the Office may return the payment. (See 37, Code of Federal Regulations, section 1.366(c).)
Failure to pay the current maintenance fee on time may result in expiration of the patent. A six-month grace period is provided when the maintenance fee may be paid with a surcharge. The grace period is the six-month period immediately following the due date. The USPTO does not mail notices to patent owners that maintenance fees are due. If, however, the maintenance fee is not paid on time, efforts are made to remind the responsible party that the maintenance fee may be paid during the grace period with a surcharge.
Correction of Patents
Once the patent is granted, it is outside the jurisdiction of the USPTO except in a few respects. The Office may issue without charge a certificate correcting a clerical error it has made in the patent when the printed patent does not correspond to the record in the Office. These are mostly corrections of typographical errors made in printing. Some minor errors of a typographical nature made by the applicant may be corrected by a certificate of correction for which a fee is required. The patentee may disclaim one or more claims of his/her patent by filing in the Office a disclaimer as provided by the statute (35 USC 353).
When the patent is defective in certain respects, the law provides that the patentee may apply for a reissue patent. Following an examination in which the proposed changes correcting any defects in the original patent are evaluated, a reissue patent would be granted to replace the original and is granted only for the balance of the unexpired term. However, the nature of the changes that can be made by means of the reissue are rather limited; new matter cannot be added. In a different type of proceeding, any person may file a request for reexamination of a patent, along with the required fee, on the basis of prior art consisting of patents or printed publications. At the conclusion of the reexamination proceedings, a certificate setting forth the results of the reexamination proceeding is issued.
Assignments and Licenses
A patent is personal property and may be sold to others or mortgaged; it may be bequeathed by a will; and it may pass to the heirs of a deceased patentee. The patent law provides for the transfer or sale of a patent, or of an application for patent, by an instrument in writing. Such an instrument is referred to as an assignment and may transfer the entire interest in the patent. The assignee, when the patent is assigned to him or her, becomes the owner of the patent and has the same rights that the original patentee had.
The statute also provides for the assignment of a part interest, that is, a half interest, a fourth interest, etc., in a patent. There may also be a grant that conveys the same character of interest as an assignment but only for a particularly specified part of the United States. A mortgage of patent property passes ownership thereof to the mortgagee or lender until the mortgage has been satisfied and a retransfer from the mortgagee back to the mortgagor, the borrower, is made. A conditional assignment also passes ownership of the patent and is regarded as absolute until canceled by the parties or by the decree of a competent court.
An assignment, grant, or conveyance of any patent or application for patent should be acknowledged before a notary public or officer authorized to administer oaths or perform notarial acts. The certificate of such acknowledgment constitutes prima facie evidence of the execution of the assignment, grant, or conveyance.
Recording of Assignments
The Office records assignments, grants, and similar instruments sent to it for recording, and the recording serves as notice. If an assignment, grant, or conveyance of a patent or an interest in a patent (or an application for patent) is not recorded in the Office within three months from its date, it is void against a subsequent purchaser for a valuable consideration without notice, unless it is recorded prior to the subsequent purchase.
An instrument relating to a patent should identify the patent by number and date (the name of the inventor and title of the invention as stated in the patent should also be given). An instrument relating to an application should identify the application by its application number and date of filing, the name of the inventor, and title of the invention as stated in the application should also be given. Sometimes an assignment of an application is executed at the same time that the application is prepared and before it has been filed in the Office. Such assignment should adequately identify the application, as by its date of execution and name of the inventor and title of the invention, so that there can be no mistake as to the application intended. If an application has been assigned and the assignment is recorded, on or before the date the issue fee is paid, the patent will be issued to the assignee as owner. If the assignment is of a part interest only, the patent will be issued to the inventor and assignee as joint owners.
Joint Ownership
Patents may be owned jointly by two or more persons as in the case of a patent granted to joint inventors, or in the case of the assignment of a part interest in a patent. Any joint owner of a patent, no matter how small the part interest, may make, use, offer for sale and sell and import the invention for his or her own profit provided they do not infringe another's patent rights, without regard to the other owners, and may sell the interest or any part of it, or grant licenses to others, without regard to the other joint owner, unless the joint owners have made a contract governing their relation to each other. It is accordingly dangerous to assign a part interest without a definite agreement between the parties as to the extent of their respective rights and their obligations to each other if the above result is to be avoided.
The owner of a patent may grant licenses to others. Since the patentee has the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling or importing the invention, no one else may do any of these things without his/her permission. A patent license agreement is in essence nothing more than a promise by the licensor not to sue the licensee. No particular form of license is required; a license is a contract and may include whatever provisions the parties agree upon, including the payment of royalties, etc.
The drawing up of a license agreement (as well as assignments) is within the field of an attorney at law. Such attorney should be familiar with patent matters as well. A few States have prescribed certain formalities to be observed in connection with the sale of patent rights.
Infringement of Patents
Infringement of a patent consists of the unauthorized making, using, offering for sale, or selling any patented invention within the United States or US Territories, or importing into the United States of any patented invention during the term of the patent. If a patent is infringed, the patentee may sue for relief in the appropriate federal court. The patentee may ask the court for an injunction to prevent the continuation of the infringement and may also ask the court for an award of damages because of the infringement. In such an infringement suit, the defendant may raise the question of the validity of the patent, which is then decided by the court. The defendant may also aver that what is being done does not constitute infringement. Infringement is determined primarily by the language of the claims of the patent and, if what the defendant is making does not fall within the language of any of the claims of the patent, there is no literal infringement.
Suits for infringement of patents follow the rules of procedure of the federal courts. From the decision of the district court, there is an appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Supreme Court may thereafter take a case by writ of certiorari. If the United States Government infringes a patent, the patentee has a remedy for damages in the United States Court of Federal Claims. The government may use any patented invention without permission of the patentee, but the patentee is entitled to obtain compensation for the use by or for the government. The Office has no jurisdiction over questions relating to infringement of patents. In examining applications for patent, no determination is made as to whether the invention sought to be patented infringes any prior patent. An improvement invention may be patentable, but it might infringe a prior unexpired patent for the invention improved upon, if there is one.
专利标记和专利申请
一专利权人制造或销售专利谁的文章，或一个人谁这样做对或专利权人必须以单词标记的文章“专利”和专利号。 对不被扣分的是，专利权人不得收回从侵权人侵权，除非是正式通知，并继续侵犯侵权通知后损失。
作为专利的时候它是不是文章标记是违反法律和学科对惩罚罪犯在专利的事实。 Some persons mark articles sold with the terms “Patent Applied For” or “Patent Pending.” These phrases give information that an application for patent has been filed in the USPTO. 由专利提供的保护不启动，直到该专利的实际拨款。 假使用这些短语或同等是禁止的。
Treaties and Foreign Patents
Since the rights granted by a US patent extend only throughout the territory of the United States and have no effect in a foreign country, an inventor who wishes patent protection in other countries must apply for a patent in each of the other countries or in regional patent offices. Almost every country has its own patent law, and a person desiring a patent in a particular country must make an application for patent in that country, in accordance with the requirements of that country.
The laws of many countries differ in various respects from the patent law of the United States. In most foreign countries, publication of the invention before the date of the application will bar the right to a patent. In most foreign countries maintenance fees are required. Most foreign countries require that the patented invention must be manufactured in that country after a certain period, usually three years. If there is no manufacture within this period, the patent may be void in some countries, although in most countries the patent may be subject to the grant of compulsory licenses to any person who may apply for a license.
There is a treaty relating to patents which is adhered to by 168 countries, including the United States, and is known as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. It provides that each country guarantees to the citizens of the other countries the same rights in patent and trademark matters that it gives to its own citizens. The treaty also provides for the right of priority in the case of patents, trademarks and industrial designs (design patents). This right means that, on the basis of a regular first application filed in one of the member countries, the applicant may, within a certain period of time, apply for protection in all the other member countries. These later applications will then be regarded as if they had been filed on the same day as the first application. Thus, these later applicants will have priority over applications for the same invention that may have been filed during the same period of time by other persons. Moreover, these later applications, being based on the first application, will not be invalidated by any acts accomplished in the interval, such as, for example, publication or exploitation of the invention, the sale of copies of the design, or use of the trademark. The period of time mentioned above, within which the subsequent applications may be filed in the other countries, is 12 months in the case of first applications for patent and six months in the case of industrial designs and trademarks.
Another treaty, known as the Patent Cooperation Treaty, was negotiated at a diplomatic conference in Washington, DC, in June of 1970. The treaty came into force on January 24, 1978, and is presently (as of December 14, 2004) adhered to by over 124 countries, including the United States. The treaty facilitates the filing of applications for patent on the same invention in member countries by providing, among other things, for centralized filing procedures and a standardized application format.
The timely filing of an international application affords applicants an international filing date in each country which is designated in the international application and provides (1) a search of the invention and (2) a later time period within which the national applications for patent must be filed. A number of patent attorneys specialize in obtaining patents in foreign countries.
Under US law it is necessary, in the case of inventions made in the United States, to obtain a license from the Director of the USPTO before applying for a patent in a foreign country. Such a license is required if the foreign application is to be filed before an application is filed in the United States or before the expiration of six months from the filing of an application in the United States unless a filing receipt with a license grant issued earlier. The filing of an application for patent constitutes the request for a license and the granting or denial of such request is indicated in the filing receipt mailed to each applicant. After six months from the US filing, a license is not required unless the invention has been ordered to be kept secret. If the invention has been ordered to be kept secret, the consent to the filing abroad must be obtained from the Director of the USPTO during the period the order of secrecy is in effect.
Foreign Applicants for US Patents
The patent laws of the United States make no discrimination with respect to the citizenship of the inventor. Any inventor, regardless of his/her citizenship, may apply for a patent on the same basis as a US citizen. There are, however, a number of particular points of special interest to applicants located in foreign countries.
The application for patent in the United States must be made by the inventor and the inventor must sign the oath or declaration (with certain exceptions), differing from the law in many countries where the signature of the inventor and an oath of inventorship are not necessary. If the inventor is dead, the application may be made by his/her executor or administrator, or equivalent, and in the case of mental disability it may be made by his/her legal representative (guardian).
No US patent can be obtained if the invention was patented abroad before applying in the United States by the inventor or his/her legal representatives if the foreign application was filed more than 12 months before filing in the United States. Six months are allowed in the case of designs. 35 USC 172.
An application for a patent filed in the United States by any person who has previously regularly filed an application for a patent for the same invention in a foreign country which affords similar privileges to citizens of the United States shall have the same force and effect for the purpose of overcoming intervening acts of others as if filed in the United States on the date on which the application for a patent for the same invention was first filed in such foreign country. This is the case, provided the application in the United States is filed within 12 months (six months in the case of a design patent) from the earliest date on which any such foreign application was filed and claims priority under 35 USC 119(b) to the foreign application. A copy of the foreign application certified by the patent office of the country in which it was filed is required to secure this right of priority.
If any application for patent has been filed in any foreign country by the applicant or by his/her legal representatives or assigns prior to his/her application in the United States, in order to claim priority under 35 USC 119(b) to the foreign application, the applicant must, in the oath or declaration accompanying the application, state the country in which the earliest such application has been filed, giving the date of filing the application. If foreign priority is claimed, any foreign application having a filing date before that of the application on which priority is claimed must also be identified in the oath or declaration. Where no claim for foreign priority under 35 USC 119(b) is made in the US application, the applicant should identify in the oath or declaration those foreign applications disclosing similar inventions filed more than a year before the filing in the United States.
An oath or alternatively a declaration must be made with respect to every application. When the applicant is in a foreign country the oath or affirmation may be before any diplomatic or consular officer of the United States, or before any officer having an official seal and authorized to administer oaths in the foreign country, whose authority shall be proved by a certificate of a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States. The oath is attested in all cases by the proper official seal of the officer before whom the oath is made.
When the oath is taken before an officer in the country foreign to the United States, all the application papers (except the drawing) must be attached together and a ribbon passed one or more times through all the sheets of the application, and the ends of the ribbons brought together under the seal before the latter is affixed and impressed, or each sheet must be impressed with the official seal of the officer before whom the oath was taken. A declaration merely requires the use of a specific averment found in 37 CFR 1.68.
If the application is filed by the legal representative (executor, administrator, etc.) of a deceased inventor, the legal representative must make the oath or declaration.
When a declaration is used, the ribboning procedure is not necessary, nor is it necessary to appear before an official in connection with the making of a declaration.
A foreign applicant may be represented by any patent attorney or agent who is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
最后更新：2009年12月5日
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