Patent - Terms

Application date:
The patent application date is the date on which the patent office received the patent application.

Citations:
Citations may be made by the examiner or the applicant/inventor. They comprise a list of references that are believed to be relevant prior art and which may have contributed to the "narrowing" of the original application. The examiner can also cite references from technical journals, textbooks, handbooks and sources. The citations practices of the EPO differ substantially from the USPTO.

Applicants to USPTO are legally required to include a full list of prior art known or believed to be relevant (“duty of candor”). At EPO, no such requirement exists for applicants.

Claim(s):
These define the invention that the applicant wishes to protect. A main claim will define the invention in its broadest form, by including its essential technical features. Further "Dependant" claims can then relate to additional features of the invention.

Designated countries:
Countries in which patent applicants wish to protect their invention. This concept is specific to European patent applications and international patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Since January 2004, all international applications filed designate by default all PCT contracting countries bound by the PCT treaty as of the filing date. For EPO patent applications, the applicant has to designate specific countries. However, if the applicant pays designation fees for seven countries, then it is considered that the designation fees for all the EPC member states have been paid and all the EPC countries will be automatically selected. However, designation of a country does not automatically provide patent rights in that country. A patent has to be validated in the designation country for it to be effective.

Disclosure:
The first public disclosure of details of an invention. This may be deliberately revealed outside the patent system to make the invention unpatentable, or what is described in a patent application. In return for a patent (monopoly rights for a limited time period), the applicant must make a full disclosure of the invention for which protection is sought.

Expiry date:
The date when a patent has run its full term in a country and is no longer valid.

First to file:
A patent system in which the first inventor to file a patent application for a specific invention is entitled to the patent. This law is increasingly becoming the standard for countries adhering to the so-called Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs) guidelines. At the EPO and JPO, patents are awarded on the first to file basis, whereas at the USPTO, patents are awarded on the first to invent basis.

Grant:
A temporary right given by the authorised body for a limited time period (normally 20 years) to prevent unauthorised use of the technology outlined in the patent. A patent application does not automatically give the applicant a temporary right against infringement. A patent has to be granted for it to be effective and enforceable against infringement.

Grant date:
The date when the patent office issues a patent to the applicant. On average it takes three years for a patent to be granted at the USPTO and five years at the EPO.

Intellectual property rights (IPR):
IPR allows people to assert ownership rights on the outcomes of their creativity and innovative activity in the same way that they can own physical property. The four main types of intellectual property rights are: patents, trademarks, design and copyrights.

International patent application:
Patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) are commonly referred to as international patent applications. However, an international patent (PCT) application does not result in the issuance of “international patents”, i.e. at present, there is no global patent system that is responsible for granting international patents. The decision of whether to grant or reject a patent application filed under the PCT rests with the national or regional (e.g. EPO) patent offices.

International Patent Classification (IPC):
The International Patent Classification, which is commonly referred to as the IPC, is based on an international multilateral treaty administered by WIPO. The IPC is an internationally recognised patent classification system, which provides a common classification for patents according to technology groups. The IPC is a hierarchical system in which the whole area of technology is divided into a range of sections, classes, subclasses and groups. There are eight sections that are broken down into classes and subclasses. IPC is periodically revised in order to improve the system and to take account of technical development. The current (eighth) edition of the IPC entered into force on 1 January 2006.

Inventive step:
An invention is considered to include an inventive step if it is not obvious to a skilled person in the light of the state of the art. At the EPO, the inventive step is one of the most important criteria (along with novelty and industrial application) that need to be fulfilled in order to obtain a patent. The USPTO employs the concept of “non-obviousness”, which is equivalent to the inventive step criterion of the EPO in a legal context.

Licence:
The means by which the owner of a patent gives permission to another person to carry out an action which, without such permission, would infringe on the patent. A licence can thus allow another person to legitimately manufacture, use or sell an invention protected by a patent. In return, the patent owner will usually receive royalty payments. A license, which can be exclusive or non-exclusive, does not transfer the ownership of the invention to the licensee. In certain countries, patent law contains rules on compulsory licenses. The law empowers the courts to decide if a compulsory license should be issued and what should be the terms and conditions.

Novelty:
If an application for a patent is to be successful, the invention must be novel (new). The invention must never have been made public in any way, anywhere, before the date on which the application for a patent is filed (or before the priority date).

Opposition to the grant of a patent:
Anyone can file an opposition to the grant of a European patent, within nine months of the mention of the grant of a European patent in the European Patent Bulletin. Opposition to a European patent can be filed on the grounds that: the patent’s subject matter is not patentable, the patent does not disclose the invention clearly and completely, and the patent’s subject matter extends beyond the content of the application filed. The opposition system does not exist in Japan (abolished in 2003) or the United States.

Paris Convention:
The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property was established in 1883 and is generally referred to the Paris Convention. The Paris Convention established the system of priority rights. Under the priority rights, applicants have up to 12 months from first filing their patent application (usually in their own country) in which to make further applications in member countries and claim the original priority date. It was originally signed by eleven countries; currently 169 countries are party to the treaty (January 2005).

Patent:
A patent is an intellectual property right issued by authorized bodies to inventors to make use of, and exploit their inventions for a limited period of time (generally 20 years). The patent holder has the legal authority to exclude others from commercially exploiting the invention (for a limited time period).In return for the ownership rights, the applicant must disclose the invention for which protection is sought. The trade-off between the granting of monopoly rights for a limited period and full disclosure of information is an important aspect of the patenting system.

Patentability:
Patentability is the ability of an invention to satisfy the legal requirements for obtaining a patent. The basic conditions of patentability, which an application must meet before a patent is granted, are that the invention must be novel, contain an inventive step (or be non-obvious), be capable of industrial application and not be in certain excluded fields (e.g. scientific theories and mathematical methods are not regarded as inventions and cannot be patented at the EPO).

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT):
As of July 2005, there were 128 countries party to this treaty, which was signed in 1970 and entered into force in 1978. The PCT provides the possibility to seek patent rights in a large number of countries by filing a single international application (PCT application) with a single patent office (receiving office). The PCT procedure consists of two main phases: (a) an “international phase”; and (b) a PCT “national/regional phase”. PCT applications are administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Pending application:
In this case, an application is with the patent office. No decision has been made on whether to grant or reject the patent application (e.g. application is still waiting for search and examination). In 2004, the total number of pending applications at JPO and USPTO amounted to around 610 000 and 756 000, respectively. The number of total pending applications is expected to increase in the coming years.

Prior art:
Previously used or published technology that may be referred to in a patent application or examination report, i.e. (a) in a broad sense, technology that is relevant to an invention and was publicly available (e.g. described in a publication or offered for sale) at the time an invention was made; or (b) in a narrow sense, any such technology which would invalidate a patent or limit its scope. The process of prosecuting a patent or interpreting its claims largely consists of identifying relevant prior art and distinguishing the claimed invention from that prior art. The objective of the search process is to identify patent and non-patent documents constituting the relevant prior art in order to determine whether the invention is novel and includes an inventive step.

Priority country:
Country where the patent is first filed before being (possibly) extended to other countries.

Priority date:
The priority date is the first date of filing of a patent application, anywhere in the world (normally in the applicant’s domestic patent office), to protect an invention. The priority date is used to determine the novelty of the invention, which implies that it is an important concept in patent procedures. For statistical purposes, the priority date is the closest date to the date of invention.

Publication:
In most countries, a patent application is published 18 months after the priority date. For example, all pending EPO and JPO patent applications are published 18 months after the priority date. Prior to a change in rules under the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999, USPTO patent applications were held in confidence until a patent was granted. Patent applications filed at the USPTO on or after 29 November 2000 are required to be published 18 months after the priority date. However, there are certain exceptions for the publication of pending patents. For example, an applicant can ask (upon filing) for the patent not to be published by certifying that the invention disclosed in the application has not and will not be the subject of an application filed in another country.

Publication date:
The date on which the patent application is published (i.e. the information is available to public). This normally occurs 18 months after the priority date.

Patent Search

Patent search is the process by which prior inventions or ideas are examined, with the goal being to find information that bears close similarity to a given patent or proposed invention.

Types of Patent Searches:
Patentability Search
State of the Art Search
Validity/Infringement Search
Freedom to Operate/Right to Use Search

Types of Patents

There are three different types of patent:

Utility Patent: This patent is issued for a new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof.

Design Patent: Design patents are issued to any person who has invented any new and nonobvious ornamental design for an article of manufacture.

Plant Patent: As its name implies, a plant patent is issued to anyone who has invented or discovered and asexually reproduced any distinct and new variety of plant, including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found seedlings, other than a tuber-propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state.

Plastic Processing Methods

Blow molding

Calendering

Casting

Centrifugal casting

Coating

Cold pressure molding

Compression molding

Encapsulation

Extrusion molding

Filament winding

Injection molding

Laminating

Matched-die- molding

Pultrusion

Rotational molding

Slush molding

Thermoforming

Transfer molding

Wet-layup or contact molding

Blow molding:

An extruded parison tube of heated thermoplastic is positioned between two halves of an open split mold and expanded against the sides of the closed mold via air pressure. The mold is opened and the part ejected. Low tool and die costs, rapid production rates, and ability to mold fairly complex hollow shapes in one piece.

Calendering:

Dough-consistent thermoplastic mass is formed into a sheet of uniform thickness by passing it through and over a series of heated or cooled rolls. Calenders are also utilized to apply plastic covering to the backs of other materials. Low cost, and sheet materials are virtually free of molded-in stresses.

Casting:

Liquid plastic, which is generally thermoset except for acrylics, is poured into a mold without pressure, cured, and taken from the mold. Cast thermoplastic films are produced via building up the material (either in solution or hot-melt form) against a highly polished supporting surface. Low mold cost, capability to form large parts with thick cross sections, good surface finish, and convenient for low-volume production.

Centrifugal casting:

Reinforcement is placed in mold and is rotated. Resin distributed through pipe; impregnates reinforcement through centrifugal action. Utilized for round objects, particularly pipe

Coating:

Process methods vary. Both thermoplastics and thermosets widely used in coating of numerous materials. Roller coating similar to calendering process. Spread coating employs blade in front of roller to position resin on material. Coatings also applied via brushing, spraying, and dipping.

Cold pressure molding:

Similar to compression molding in that material is charged into a split mold; it differs in that it employs no heat, only pressure. Part cure takes place in an oven in a separate operation. Some thermoplastic billets and sheet material are cold formed in a process similar to drop-hammer die forming or fast cold-form stamping of metals. Low-cost matched-tool moldings exist which utilize a rapid exotherm to cure moldings on a relatively rapid cycle. Plastic or concrete tooling can be used. With process comes ability to form heavy or tough-to-mold materials; simple, inexpensive, and often has rapid production rate.

Compression molding:

Principally polymerized thermoset compounds, usually pre-formed, is positioned in a heated mold cavity; the mold is closed (heat and pressure are applied) and the material flows and fills the mold cavity. Heat completes polymerization and the part is ejected. The process is sometimes used for thermoplastics. Little material waste is attainable; large, bulky parts can be molded; process is adaptable to rapid automation (racetrack techniques, etc.)

Encapsulation:

Mixed compound is poured into open molds to surround and envelope components; cure may be at room temperature with heated postcure. Encapsulation generally includes several processes such as potting, embedding and conformal coating.

Extrusion molding:

Widely used for continuous production of film, sheet, tube, and other profiles; also used in conjunction with blow molding. Thermoplastic or thermoset molding compound is fed from a hopper to a screw and barrel where it is heated to plasticity then forwarded, usually via a rotating screw, through a nozzle possessing the desired cross section. Production lines require input and takeoff equipment that can be complex. Low tool cost, numerous complex profile shapes possible, very rapid production rates, can apply coatings or jacketing to core materials (such as wire).

Filament winding:

Excellent strength-to-weight. Continuous, reinforced filaments, usually glass, in the form of roving are saturated with resin and machine-wound onto mandrels having shape of desired finished part. Once winding is completed, part and mandrel are cured; mandrel can then be removed through porthole at end of wound part. High-strength reinforcements can be oriented precisely in direction where strength is required. Good uniformity of resin distribution in finished part; mainly circular objects such as pressure bottles, pipes, and rocket cases.

Injection molding:

Very widely used. High automation of manufacturing is standard practice. Thermoplastic or thermoset is heated to plasticity in cylinder at controlled temperature, then forced under pressure through a nozzle into sprues, runners, gates, and cavities of mold. The resin undergoes solidification rapidly, the mold is opened, and the part ejected. High production runs, low labor costs, high repoducibility of complex details, and excellent surface finish.

Laminating:

Material, usually in form of reinforcing cloth, paper, foil, metal, wood, glass fiber, plastic, etc., preimpregnated or coated with thermoset resin (sometimes a thermoplastic) is molded under pressure greater than 1000psi (7Mpa) into sheet, rod, tube or other simple shapes. Excellent dimensional stability of finished product; very economical in large production of parts.

Matched-die- molding:

A variation of the conventional compression molding this process employs two metal molds possessing a close-fitting, telescoping area to seal in the plastic compound being molded and to allow trim of the reinforcement. The mat or preform reinforcement is positioned in the mold and the molds is closed and heated under pressures of 150-400 psi (1-3 Mpa). The mold is then opened and the part is removed.

Pultrusion:

This process is similar to profile extrusion, but it does not provide flexibility and uniformity of product control, and automation. Used for continuous production of simple shapes (rods, tubes, and angles) principally incorporating fiberglass or other reinforcement. High output possible.

Rotational molding:

A predetermined amount of powdered or liquid thermoplastic or thermoset material is poured into mold; mold is closed, heated, and rotated in the axis of two planes until contents have fused to inner walls of mold; mold is then opened and part is removed. Low mold cost, large hollow parts in one piece can be produced, and molded parts are essentially isotropic in nature

Slush molding:

Powdered or liquid thermoplastic material is poured into a mold to capacity; mold is closed and heated for a predetermined time in order to achieve a specified buildup of partially cured material on mold walls; mold is opened and unpolymerized material is poured out; and semifused part is removed from mold and fully polymerized in oven. Low mold costs and economical for small production runs.

Thermoforming:

Heat-softened thermoplastic sheet is positioned over male or female mold; air is evacuated from between sheet and mold, forcing sheet to conform to contour of mold. Variations are vacuum snapback, plug assist, drape forming, etc. Tooling costs are generally low, large part production with thin sections possible, and often comes out economical for limited part production.

Transfer molding:

Related to compression and injection molding processes. Thermoset molding compound is fed from hopper into a transfer chamber where it is then heated to plasticity; it is then fed by a plunger through sprues, runners, and gates into a closed mold where it cures; mold is opened and part ejected. Good dimensional accuracy, rapid production rate, and very intricate parts can be produced.

Wet-layup or contact molding:

Several layers, consisting of a mixture of reinforcement (generally glass cloth) and thermosetting resin are positioned in mold and roller contoured to mold’s shape; assembly is usually oven-cured without the application of pressure. In spray molding, a modification, resin systems and chopped fiber are sprayed simultaneously from a spray gun against the mold surface. Wet-layup parts are sometimes cured under pressure, using vacuum bag, pressure bag, or autoclave, and depending on the method employed, wet-layup can be called open molding, hand layup, sprayup, vacuum bag, pressure bag, or autoclave molding. Little equipment required, efficient, low cost, and suitable for low-volume production of parts.

Patent : Definition

A patent is granted as an exclusive right by the Government for an invention for a limited period of time in consideration of disclosure of the invention by an applicant. A patentee enjoys exclusive right to prevent a third party from an unauthorized act of making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the patented product or process within the country during the term of the patent.

Source : http://ipindia.nic.in

Polymer:Definition

A high molecular weight organic compound, natural or synthetic, whose structure can be represented by a repeated small unit, the monomer (example: ethylene, propylene, styrene). Synthetic polymers are formed by addition or condensation polymerization of monomers.

Types of PlasticsThere are two types of plastics are available.
1. Thermosetting plastics :
Once cooled and hardened, these plastics retain their shapes and cannot return to their original form. They are hard and durable. Thermosets can be used for auto parts, aircraft parts and tires. Examples : Polyurethanes, polyesters, epoxy resins, Phenol Formaldehyde (PF) and Melamine Formaldehyde (MF).
2. Thermoplastics : Thermoplastics can soften upon heating and return to their original form. They are easily molded and extruded into films, fibers and packaging.
Examples : Polyethylene (PE), High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).