Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
Basic patent
See patent (3;
Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences.
A quasi judicial body that reviews rejected patent applications and determines priority between rival patent applicants. See INTERFERENCE (2).
Court of Customs and Patent Appeals
Hist. An Article III court created in 1929 to hear appeals in customs and patent cases. ( This court was abolished in 1982 and was superseded by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Customs and Patent Appeals, Court of
See COURT OF CUSTOMS AND PATENT APPEALS.
Literae patentes regis non erunt vacuae
Letters patent of the king will not be void.
Patent
, n. 1. The governmental grant of a right, privilege, or authority. 2. The official document so granting. - Also termed public grant. See LETTERS PATENT.
Patent and Copyright Clause
The constitutional provision granting Congress the authority to promote the advancement of science and the arts by establishing a national system for patents and copyrights. U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 8.
Patent and Trademark Office
The Department of Commerce agency that examines patent and trademark applications, issues patents, registers trademarks, and furnishes patent and trademark information and services to the public. - Abbr. PTO.
Patentable
adj. Capable of being patented <patentable processes>.
Si suggestio non sit vera, literae patentes vacuae sunt
If the suggestion is not true, the letters patent are void.
basic patent
A patent granted to an invention recognized by industry or the scientific community as pioneering, unexpected, and unprecedented. - Also termed pioneer patent.
call patent
A land patent in which the corners have been staked but the boundary lines have not been run out at the time of the grant.
combination patent
A patent granted for an invention that unites existing components in a novel way.
design patent
A patent granted for a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; a patent that protects a product's appearance or nonfunctional aspects. ( Design patents - which, unlike utility patents, have a term of only 14 years - are similar to copyrights.
double patenting
1. The issuance of two patents covering the same invention. ( An inventor is not allowed to receive more than one patent on one invention. - Also termed sameinuention double patenting. 2. The issuance of a second patent claiming an invention that differs from an already patented invention only in some unpatentable particular. - Also termed obviousness double patenting.
fencing patent
A patent procured in an effort to broaden the scope of the invention beyond the article or process that is actually intended to be manufactured or licensed. Cf. DOUBLE PATENTING.
land patent
An instrument by which the government conveys a grant of public land to a private person.
lapse patent
A land patent substituting for an earlier patent to the same land that lapsed because the previous patentee did not claim it. 3. The exclusive right to make, use, or sell an invention for a specified period (usu. 17 years), granted by the federal government to the inventor if the device or process is novel, useful, and nonobvious. 35 USCA §§ 101-103.
letters patent
1 Hist. A document granting some right or privilege, issued under governmental seal but open to public inspection. -Also termed literae patentes (lit-or-ee pa-tenteez). Cf. LETTERS SECRET. 2. A governmental grant of the exclusive right to use an invention or design. See PATENT (2).
literae patentes
n. [Law Latin "open letters"] See LETTERS PATENT (1).
nonobviousness. Patents.
1. (Of an invention) the quality of being sufficiently different from the prior art that, at the time the invention was made, it would not have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art relevant to the invention. 2. The requirement that this quality must be demonstrated for an invention to be patentable. ( Nonobviousness may be demonstrated with evidence concerning prior art or with other objective evidence, such as commercial success or professional approval. 35 USCA § 103. Cf. NOVELTY.
novelty. Patents.
1. The fact that an invention is new in form and in function or performance. 2. The requirement that this fact must be demonstrated for an invention to be patentable. ( If the invention has been previously patented, described in a publication, or known or used by others, it is not novel. 35 USCA § 102. Cf. NONOBVIOUSNESS. noverca (no-var-ka), n. [Latin] A stepmother.
obviousness double patenting
. See DOUBLE PATENTING.
on-sale bar. Patents.
A statutory bar prohibiting patent eligibility if an invention was sold or offered for sale more than one year before the filing of a patent application.
paper patent
A patent granted for a discovery or invention that has never been used commercially. ( A paper patent receives less protection under the law than a patent granted for a device that is actually used in industry.
patent
, adj. Obvious; apparent <a patent ambiguity>. CC LATENT.
patent ambiguity
an ambiguity that clearly appears on the face of a document, arising from the language itself <the nonperformance was excused because the two different prices expressed in the contract created a patent ambiguity>. - also termed intrinsic ambiguity; ambiguitas patens.
patent defect
A defect that is apparent to a normally observant person, esp. a buyer on a reasonable inspection. - Also termed apparent defect.
patent disclaimer
A patent applicant's amendment of a specification to relinquish part of the claim to the invention. ( When part of the invention is not patentable, such a disclaimer can be filed to help ensure the validity of the rest of the patent. See SPECIFICATION (3).
patent infringement
The unauthorized making, using, offering to sell, selling, or importing into the United States any patented invention. 35 USCA § 271(a).
patent insurance
1. Insurance against loss from an infringement of the insured's patent. 2. Insurance against a claim that the insured has infringed another's patent. 3. Insurance that funds a claim against a third party for infringing the insured's patent.
patent issued within a year of the pending application's filing date. - interfere, ub. interference with a business relationship
See TORTIOUSINTERFERENCE WITH PROSPECTIVE ADVANTAGE.
patent medicine
A packaged drug that is protected by trademark and is available without prescription.
patent of precedence
Hist. A royal grant to barristers that the Crown wished to honor by conferring such rank and preaudience as assigned in the grant.
patent pending
The designation given to an invention while the Patent and Trademark Office is processing the patent application. ( No protection against infringement exists, however, unless an actual patent is granted. - Abbr. pat. pend.
patent pooling
The cross-licensing of patents among patentholders. ( Patent pooling does not violate antitrust laws unless it is done to suppress competition or control an industry.
patent right
A right secured by a patent.
patent writ
Hist. An open writ; one not closed or sealed up. Cf. close writ.
patent-right dealer
A person who sells or brokers the sale of patent rights.
patentee
. One who has been granted a patent.
patentor
. One who grants a patent.
pioneer patent
See basic patent.
plant patent
A patent granted for the invention or discovery of a new and distinct variety of asexually reproducing plant.
process patent
A patent for a method of treating specified materials to produce a certain result; a patent outlining a means of producing a physical result independently of the producing mechanism. ( The result might be brought about by chemical action, by applying some element or power of nature, by mixing certain substances together, or by heating a substance to a certain temperature.
reissue patent
See PATENT (3).
same-invention double patenting
See DOUBLE PATENTING (1).
scope of a patent
Patents. The invention limits protected under a patent, determined by methods based on established principles of patent law.
utility patent
A patent granted for one of the following types of inventions: a process, a machine, a manufacture, or a composition of matter (such as a new chemical). ( Utility patents are the most commonly issued patents. 35 USCA § 101.