Abstract: This chapter presents an overview of intellectual property law, with a principal focus on United States Patent Law. A US utility patent application usually has two principal parts, a specification followed by a claim or a set of claims. The specification must disclose in clear, concise, and exact terms to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention. The claims portion of the patent application is where patent applicants define what they believe to be the patentable features of their inventions. Patent examiners review the claims for clarity purposes, and determine whether the claims are allowable in view of prior art patents and publications. An owner of a patent has the right to exclude others from practicing the claimed invention. A patent does not provide the right for the owner of a patent to practice the claimed invention. It is common for people to confuse the concepts of patentability, and freedom to operate. Patent infringement lawsuits must be first brought in a United States Federal District Court. All appeals from patent lawsuits on patent-related issues are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), located in Washington, DC. There are several different types of infringement allegations including direct, contributory, and inducement.
Publication Year: 1996
Publication Date: 1996-03-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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