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Derwent Innovations Index Glossary

Abstract

A short, 250-500 word description about the claims and disclosures of the invention. Derwent subject experts review the patent specifications and write the description of the invention in English.

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Assignee

The individual(s) or corporate body to whom all or limited rights under a patent are legally transferred.

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Citation

A citation is a reference to an earlier patent (both US patents and foreign patents) or to previously published articles.

Citations are made by either the patent examiner, the inventor, or both. They are believed to be relevant prior art and may provide valuable background information on the development and importance of the patent.

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Company Code

To standardize company names, Derwent assigns a unique four-letter code to approximately 21,000 companies worldwide.

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Compound

A compound is a chemical substance formed by a union of two or more elements. For example, salt is a compound of sodium and chlorine because it is a distinct substance formed by the chemical union of two elements in definite proportion by weight.

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Derwent Chemistry Resource Number

A unique identifier assigned to specific chemical compounds in the Derwent Chemistry Resource database. The identifier forms a link between the compound database and the corresponding bibliographical records indexed in the Derwent World Patents Index®.

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Element

An element is one of 105 known substances that cannot be split by chemical means into simpler substances. For example, aluminum, sodium, and chlorine are elements.

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European Patent Convention (EPC)

Nineteen European countries are parties to the European Patent Convention. A patent application filed under this convention will, when granted, usually automatically be effective in each of the countries designated by the applicant. The inventor, however, must still apply for patent protection in each of the member countries even though the EPO provides a standard procedure for the filing of patents.

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Examiner

A patent office official who is appointed to determine the patentability of applications.

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Intellectual Property

Refers to creations of the mind such as inventions, trademarks, literary and artistic works, symbols, images, architectural designs, and so forth. Patents are one way of protecting intellectual property; copyrights and trademarks are other ways of protecting intellectual property.

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Novel

A patent must be new or original. That is, the invention must never have been made public in any way, anywhere, before the date on which the application for a patent is filed.

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Obviousness

The concept that the claims defining an invention in a patent application must involve an inventive step if, when compared with what is already known, that is prior art, it would not be obvious to someone skilled in the art.

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Patent

A patent is a document that defines the rights conferred by law to an inventor of a published specification. The inventor has the exclusive right to make use of and exploit the invention for a limited period of time. A patent must be obtained in each country where patent protection is sought.

Patents are a form of intellectual property protection. They should not be confused with trademarks, servicemarks, and copyrighted material, which are other forms of protection of intellectual property.

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Patent Assignee

The individual(s) or corporate body to whom all or limited rights of the patent are legally transferred.

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Patent Family

A patent family is a set of individual patents granted by various countries. Think of a patent family as all the equivalent patent applications corresponding to a single invention, covering different geographical regions.

As applications are made for patents of an invention in countries around the world, Derwent links these patents together into a patent family structure. Derwent then tracks the development of the patents, indexing all updates received from the various international patent authorities.

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Patent Number

A patent number is a unique identifier of a patent. For example, EP178925 and US4796266 are valid patent numbers.

Patent numbers are assigned to each patent document by the patent-issuing authority. Derwent inputs the two-character WIPO country code of the publishing country, followed by the serial number (up to 10 characters), and a status code indicating the document type or publication stage.

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Patent-Issuing Authority

Any country or organization with the authority and the power to issue patents.

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Primary Accession Number (PAN)

A unique identification number assigned by Derwent to the first patent in each patent family, and therefore to the record created for that family. The format of each accession number is yyyy-Lnnnnn, where yyyy is a four-digit year, L is an alphabetic character, and nnnnn is a five-digit assigned number. Example: 2008-F11138

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Prior Art

Previously used or published technology that may be referred to in a patent application or an examination report. More information?

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Priority Application Information and Date

Under the right of priority provision of the Paris Convention an application may be filed in one or more contracting states or countries within 12 months of the first application. In this case the original application number becomes the priority application number and the original application date becomes the priority application date.

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Useful

The concept that the claims defining the invention are fit for some desirable, practical, or commercial purpose. It must have some utilitarian value.

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World Intellectual Property Organization

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an international organization dedicated to promoting the use and protection of intellectual property.