Читать книгу Intellectual Property Law for Engineers, Scientists, and Entrepreneurs - Howard B. Rockman - Страница 65

An article or process patent begins with a title generally describing the invention, followed by a short paragraph comprising a broad statement of the field of technology to which the invention relates. This is immediately followed by a more specific statement as to the subject matter of the invention.

The specification next sets forth a statement of the background of the invention, including an explanation of the problems in the existing art to which the invention is directed towards solving, and the known relevant prior art that can be shown to have failed to specifically solve these problems. The prior art is that which the inventor is aware of, or has obtained from a pre‐examination novelty search (see Chapter 8 for searches). The patent at this point may also state briefly what the various prior art reference patents disclose, followed by one or two statements indicating what the reference patents lack, compared to the details of the subject invention.

The background of the invention section may also include a statement of the objects of the invention. These are usually broad statements setting forth the results achieved by the invention that are different from and superior to the results obtained by using the devices or methods disclosed in the prior art, without setting forth the details concerning the structure and functioning of the invention's elements to achieve those results. This latter information appears later in the patent document.

Next, the patent includes a summary of the covered invention, which is a short statement of the elements of the invention, how they relate to each other, and a statement of the functions of those elements. Also included is a statement setting forth how the invention will meet the objects or results set forth in the previous paragraph.

The background of the invention is followed by a brief description of the drawings or illustrations, where present, describing the view depicted of the device in each figure.

After the brief description of the drawings is the all‐important detailed description of the illustrated embodiment of the invention, which sets forth a complete explanation of the invention’s structure, the relationships between all structural elements, and the operation/function of the structural elements of the invention shown in the drawings. This description includes only the essential features of the invention, eliminating descriptions of features that are non‐essential. In this portion of the patent specification, each essential element of the inventive structure is named, numbered, and the numbers coordinated with the illustrations in the drawings. The accuracy of this particular section of the application is important, since it must enable a person skilled in the art to replicate the invention once the patent expires without undue experimentation. The description must be a full, clear, concise, and exact description of the invention. Common terminology in the industry or trade is used to describe the invention, with the patent attorney having some latitude in using broader language than that normally used to describe an element or function of the invention. Where a process or method is described and no illustration is necessary to understand the invention, a detailed description of the process used, including examples, is set forth.