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Interviews any conversation between an applicant, attorney, or agent and the examiner of a patent application to present matters for the examiner’s consideration. Interviews may be conducted via personal appearance, telephone conversation, video conferencing, or electronic mail.
Invention any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. Any non- obvious improvement to an existing invention that enhances its usefulness is also considered to be an invention. By law the terms process, machine, manufacture, and composition of matter can be defined as follows:
Process – a process, act, or method
Manufacture – an article that is made (manufactured)
Composition of matter – a chemical composition, including mixtures of ingredients and new chemical compounds)
An invention, if found to be non-obvious, useful, and new, can be patented.
Inventive entity either a single person or group of people that conceived a particular invention. The inventive entity is essentially responsible for the original formation of an invention.
Inventor either a single person or group of individuals that created a new, useful, and non-obvious process, manufacture, machine, or composition of matter. For a person to be considered an inventor they must have direct involvement in the inventive process and cannot be considered merely an assistant to the process (for example, by making monetary contributions). When a group of individuals develop an invention together, they are known collectively as “joint inventors”.
Inventorship legally defines what constitutes being listed as an inventor of a patent. By law, a patent application must be filed in the name of the inventor, which can be either a single individual or a group of individuals, but under U.S. law can never be a corporate entity. Failure to correctly identify inventorship, through failing to name or incorrectly naming the inventor of a patent, will likely result in that patent being held invalid.
Inventor's Certificate a grant to inventors in some foreign countries, which is akin to being granted a patent in the United States.
Issue fee the amount that must be paid by an applicant in order for their successful patent application to issue into a patent. The amount will vary between applications, with the exact amount being shown in the Notice of Allowance. The issue fee is required to be paid within three months from the date of the Notice of Allowance.
