Patent Terms Glossary

Common Law Rights

Definition:
Property or other legal rights that do not absolutely require formal registration in order to enforce them. Proving such rights for a trademark in court can be very difficult.

Workflow Incoming Amendment IFW

Definition:
From Public PAIR/IFW - designates the point in time when an amendment is received in the Office and the paper scanning process may be started at the USPTO; does not indicate whether scanning has actually started.

Joint Inventor

Definition:
An inventor who is named with at least one other inventor in a patent application, wherein each inventor contributes to the conception of the invention set forth in at least one claim in a patent application.

Counterpart

Definition:
An application filed in a foreign patent office that is substantially similar to (like) the patent application filed with the USPTO and is based upon some or all of the same invention.

Filing Date

Definition:
The date of receipt in the Office of an application which includes (1) a specification containing a description and, if the application is a nonprovisional application, at least one claim, and (2) any required drawings.

Notice of Allowability

Definition:
A notification to the patent applicant that the application has been placed in condition for allowance.

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