Patent Terms Glossary

Express Abandonment

Definition:
A patent application may be expressly abandoned by filing a written declaration of abandonment identifying the application in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. .

Provisional Patent Application

Definition:
A provisional application for patent is a U. S. national application for patent filed in the USPTO under 35 U.S.C. § 111(b). It allows filing without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any information disclosure (prior art) statement.

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.

Non-final Office Action (rejection)

Definition:
An Office action letter that raises new issues and usually is the first phase of the examination process. An examining attorney will issue a non-final Office action after reviewing the application for the first time.

Doctrine Of Equivalents

Definition:
A judicially created theory for finding patent infringement when the accused process or product falls outside the literal scope of the patent claims.

SMART

Definition:
Standards, Mentor, Attempt, Review, Transition -- an informal development program used for USPTO's OCIO employees that identifies standards to work towards and establishes a mentoring relationship between managers and their employees who must meet these s

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