IP & Patent Glossary
Clear, practical definitions of the terms patent attorneys, paralegals, and IP managers use every day, with the deadlines and numbers that matter.
Docketing & Deadlines
The filings, fees, and response windows that patent paralegals and docketing teams track every day.
Patent Docketing
Patent docketing is the tracking of every deadline in a patent portfolio. Learn what gets docketed, how docketing systems work, and how to audit a docket for errors.
Provisional Patent Application
A provisional patent application secures a US filing date for 12 months without claims or examination. Learn what it must contain, the conversion deadline, and its common pitfalls.
Paris Convention Priority
Paris Convention priority lets an applicant file abroad within 12 months and keep the original filing date. Learn the rule, the 6-month design period, restoration, and the certified copy requirement.
PCT Application
A PCT application reserves patent rights in over 150 countries with one filing. Learn the 12, 16, 18, 22, and 30-month milestones, the national phase, and when the PCT route pays off.
Office Action
An office action is the USPTO examiner's written decision on a patent application. Learn the non-final vs final distinction, response deadlines, and what happens next.
Restriction Requirement
A restriction requirement is an examiner's demand that an application be limited to one invention. Learn how to elect, when to traverse, and how divisional applications preserve the rest.
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS)
An IDS is how applicants disclose known prior art to the USPTO. Learn the duty of candor behind it, the four timing windows under 37 CFR 1.97, and what late filing costs.
Request for Continued Examination (RCE)
An RCE reopens prosecution of a US patent application after a final office action. Learn when to file one, what it costs, and how it compares with appeals and continuations.
Track One and the Patent Prosecution Highway
Track One prioritized examination and the Patent Prosecution Highway are the two main ways to get a US patent faster. Learn the eligibility rules, timelines, costs, and when each pays off.
Terminal Disclaimer
A terminal disclaimer gives up patent term to overcome an obviousness-type double patenting rejection. Learn what it does to term, ownership, and enforcement, and when to avoid one.
Notice of Allowance
A notice of allowance means the USPTO will grant the patent once the issue fee is paid. Learn the non-extendable three-month deadline and what to check before paying.
Maintenance Fees
US patent maintenance fees are due at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years after grant. Learn the payment windows, the six-month grace period and surcharge, and how to reinstate an expired patent.
Patent Term
A US utility patent lasts 20 years from its earliest non-provisional filing date. Learn how the term is measured, what adjusts it, and how design patents and foreign patents differ.
Patent Term Adjustment (PTA)
Patent term adjustment adds days to a US patent to compensate for USPTO delay. Learn the A, B, and C delay rules, how applicant delay reduces it, and how PTA differs from PTE.
Patent Term Extension (PTE)
Patent term extension restores time lost to FDA review for drug, biologic, and device patents. Learn the 60-day application deadline, the five-year cap, and the one-patent-per-product rule.
Small and Micro Entity Status
Small entities get 60% off most USPTO fees and micro entities get 80% off. Learn who qualifies, how licensing to a large company changes status, and the risk of claiming it wrongly.
Inventor Declaration and Assignment
The inventor declaration confirms inventorship; the assignment transfers ownership. Learn when each is due, what a substitute statement is, and why recording within three months matters.
Filing & Prosecution
How applications are drafted, examined, rejected, and allowed at the USPTO and abroad.
Invention Disclosure
An invention disclosure is the internal record an inventor submits so the company can decide whether to patent. Learn what it should contain, how review committees use it, and why it sets the priority date.
Inventorship
Inventorship is the legal determination of who conceived the claimed invention. Learn the conception standard, joint inventorship rules, how errors are corrected, and why AI cannot be an inventor.
Prior Art
Prior art is any public disclosure of an invention before its filing date. Learn what qualifies under 35 U.S.C. § 102, the one-year grace period, and how examiners and litigants use it.
On-Sale Bar and Grace Period
A sale, offer, or public disclosure more than one year before filing bars a US patent. Learn the on-sale bar after Helsinn, the one-year grace period, and why the rest of the world has none.
Patent Claims
Patent claims are the numbered sentences that define what a patent protects. Learn independent vs dependent claims, claim types, the 20-claim fee threshold, and how claims are read.
Patent Prosecution
Patent prosecution is the process of getting a patent granted, from drafting through examination to allowance. Learn the stages, the typical timeline, and where the cost goes.
Section 101 Rejection (Subject Matter Eligibility)
A § 101 rejection says the claimed invention is not patent-eligible subject matter. Learn the Alice/Mayo two-step test, the USPTO's eligibility guidance, and how to overcome one.
Section 102 Rejection (Anticipation)
A § 102 rejection means a single prior art reference discloses every element of the claim. Learn the anticipation standard, the 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) categories, and how to overcome it.
Section 103 Rejection (Obviousness)
A § 103 rejection says the claim would have been obvious over a combination of prior art. Learn the Graham factors, the KSR standard, motivation to combine, and the secondary considerations that rebut it.
Section 112 Rejection (Written Description, Enablement, Indefiniteness)
A § 112 rejection targets the application itself: the claims are indefinite, or the specification fails to describe or enable them. Learn the three requirements and how to fix each.
Continuation Patent
A continuation is a new application that reuses a parent's specification to pursue different claims. Learn continuation vs CIP vs divisional, the co-pendency rule, and when to file one.
Patent Family
A patent family is the set of patents and applications that share a priority claim. Learn simple vs extended families, how to count them, and why family size signals value.
Portfolio & Strategy
Analytics, valuation, and lifecycle decisions that shape what a portfolio is worth.
Patent Portfolio
A patent portfolio is all the patents and applications an organization owns. Learn how portfolios are built, what they cost to maintain, and how quality is measured beyond patent count.
Patent Analytics
Patent analytics turns patent data into decisions about filing, pruning, competitors, and risk. Learn the main use cases, the data behind it, and how AI changed the methods.
Patent Landscape
A patent landscape maps who is patenting what in a technology area. Learn what a landscape report contains, the steps to build one, when to commission it, and what it costs.
Patent Citation
A patent citation is a reference from one patent to earlier art. Learn forward vs backward citations, examiner vs applicant citations, and what citation counts do and do not say about value.
Patent Pruning
Patent pruning is the deliberate abandonment of patents that no longer justify their fees. Learn the criteria, the timing around maintenance fee windows, and how to avoid dropping the wrong asset.
IP Due Diligence
IP due diligence is the review of a company's patents and other IP before a deal. Learn what the checklist covers, the red flags that change deal terms, and how long it takes.
Enforcement & Licensing
Infringement, clearance, standards, and monetization after a patent issues.
Patent Infringement
Patent infringement is making, using, selling, or importing a claimed invention without permission. Learn direct vs indirect infringement, the main defenses, damages, and the six-year limit.
Claim Construction
Claim construction is how courts decide what patent claim terms mean. Learn the Phillips hierarchy of evidence, what happens at a Markman hearing, and why it often decides the case.
Doctrine of Equivalents
The doctrine of equivalents finds infringement when a product differs only insubstantially from a claim element. Learn the function-way-result test, the all-elements rule, and the estoppel limits.
Prosecution History Estoppel
Prosecution history estoppel bars a patentee from reclaiming scope surrendered during prosecution. Learn amendment-based and argument-based estoppel, the Festo presumption, and how to draft responses that limit it.
Claim Chart
A claim chart maps each element of a patent claim to evidence from a product or prior art reference. Learn the structure, the types, where courts require them, and what makes one persuasive.
Inter Partes Review (IPR)
Inter partes review is a PTAB proceeding to cancel patent claims over prior art patents and publications. Learn the one-year bar, the 12-month timeline, institution rates, and the estoppel that follows.
Freedom to Operate
Freedom to operate means a product can be made and sold without infringing others' patents. Learn how an FTO analysis is done, what an opinion of counsel does, and why your own patent is not enough.
Patent Licensing
Patent licensing grants permission to practice a patent in exchange for royalties or other consideration. Learn exclusive vs non-exclusive licenses, royalty structures, and the terms that matter.
Standard-Essential Patent
A standard-essential patent claims technology that a technical standard such as 5G or Wi-Fi requires. Learn how SEPs are declared, what FRAND licensing means, and how essentiality is tested.
Patent Assertion Entity
A patent assertion entity (PAE) earns money by licensing and litigating patents it does not practice. See how PAEs operate and how to gauge the risk.
Patent Marking
Patent marking puts the public on notice that a product is patented. Learn how marking affects damages under 35 U.S.C. § 287, how virtual marking works, and the rules on false marking.
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