Patent Terms Glossary

Patent and Trademark Depository Library

Definition:
A library designated by the USPTO to receive copies of patents, CD-ROMs containing registered and pending marks, and patent and trademark materials that are made available to the public for free.

Benefit Claim

Definition:
The claiming by an applicant in a nonprovisional application of a benefit of an invention disclosed in a prior-filed copending provisional or nonprovisional application designating.

Comprising

Definition:
A transitional phrase that is synonymous with means the same thing as inclusive or open-ended and does not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps.

Group Art Unit

Definition:
A working unit responsible for a cluster of related patent art. Staffed by one supervisory patent examiner (SPE) and a number of patent examiners who determine patentability on applications for a patent.

Interference

Definition:
A proceeding, conducted before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (Board), to determine priority of invention between a pending application.

First to file

Definition:
The applicant who is the first to file an application for an invention will be awarded the patent over all others.

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