Glossary of Patent Law Terms

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Abandoned Applications An abandoned application is an application that has lapsed and is no longer in "Patent Pending" status. This may occur if the applicant fails to respond to the patent office in a timely fashion, doesn't pay all required fees or by express abandonment, as well as other situations.

Abstract The abstract is an abridged summary of an invention to provide a general idea about the invention, and is utilized when searching patents.

Access Patent applications are kept in confidence and are not viewable by the public until they are published or until the patent issues if not published. Publication usually occurs 18 months after filing the application. Some patents are placed under a secrecy order by the U.S. Government.

Allowed (or in issue) An allowance occurs when a patent application has been allowed to issue and become a patent.

Alternative limitations Alternative limitations refer to claims which contain the language of “or” and “optionally”, although generally, claims are not permitted using "or". Although not considered good practice in the U.S., multiple dependent claims, where a claim may depend from more than one claim, are commonplace in foreign jurisdictions.

Amended A patent application may be amended to modify the claims, modify the specification, so long as new matter isn't added, or to modify the drawings, again, so long as new matter is not added.

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