Patent Terms Glossary

Enforceability of Patent

Definition:
The right of the patent owner to bring an infringement suit against a party who, without permission, makes, uses or sells the claimed invention.

Disclosure

Definition:
The first public disclosure of details of an invention

CIP

Definition:
Continuation-in-Part - an application filed during the lifetime of an earlier nonprovisional application, repeating some substantial portion or all of the earlier nonprovisional application.

Design Patent

Definition:
A type of patent covering the shape characteristics of an object

Informal Application

Definition:
An application that has been filed without one or more of the elements required to receive a filing date. The USPTO will return informal applications to applicants.

NPL

Definition:
Non Patent Literature -- documents and publications that are not patents or published patent applications but are cited as references for being relevant in a patent prosecution.

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