C

Certificate of mailing A certificate of mailing is a signed statement that a mailing was made on a certain date and is a valid means for mailing correspondence to the United States Patent and Trademark Office and proving that the correspondence was mailed.

Certificate of transmission If correspondence is faxed to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, then a certificate of transmission must accompany such fax as proof of transmission.

Claims Claims define the invention and are the bounds of the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale and/or importing the invention in and to the U.S.

Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) The Code of Federal Regulations is a codification of federal laws and regulations. Section 37 specifically refers to patents, trademarks and copyrights.

Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks The Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks is the government official who oversees the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Composition of matter Patent protection is offered to “whoever invents or discovers a useful process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter or any improvement thereof.” Generally, composition of matter refers to synthesized chemical compounds or composite articles that do not exist in nature.

Conception Conception is the mental idea of the invention. The date of conception is the date at which there is a formation in the mind of the inventor of a definite and permanent idea of the complete and operative invention.

Continuation application (continuing) A continuing application is an application based on an earlier application with the only difference being in the claims.

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