Information Resources for Chemistry -

Definition of a patent:  A patent provides exclusive property rights to the inventor, and gives the inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, or offering the invention for sale. In most cases, the term of a new patent in the United States is 20 years from the date on which the patent application was filed.

There are three types of patents:

     1) Utility patents are granted to anyone who invents or discovers a new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or who makes new and useful improvements to any of the above. The term "composition of matter" is the umbrella under which most chemistry patents fall.

     2) Design patents are granted to anyone who invents a new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.

     3) Plant patents are granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces a disinct and new variety of plant.

A patent can be a very valuable source of information. Much of the technical content in a patent is never published anywhere else, so it is a way to learn how certain procedures were carried out. Also, the patents for which a company applies can give you a window into what research the company is doing. Keep this in mind if you interview for a job at a major corporation or pharmaceutical company -- you will definitely impress your interviewers if you have researched the new developments the company is working on.

The contents of the sections of a U.S. patent consists of: 

Front Page (1970 to the present); Summary Section (prior to 1970)

• Patent number and date of issuance
• Inventor's name
• Inventor's address at the time of issuance
• Assignee's name and address if the inventor assigned the patent and informed the Patent Office of such prior to issuance
• Application number and date of filing
• U.S. class(es)/subclass(es) in which this patent was placed at the time of issuance; prior to the 1970's only the primary U.S. Classification was included.
• Number of claims
• The following information is now available on the front page but was either not included or not consistently included on pre-1970's patents:
  • The International Patent classes equivalent to the U.S. classes/subclasses in which this patent was placed
  • The U.S. classes/subclasses in which the patent examiner and/or inventor looked to find similar patents (Field of Search)
  • Related literature such as patents, books, journal articles (References Cited)
  • Patent Examiner's name
  • Attorney, agent or law firm representing the inventor (if the inventor employed one)
  • A one paragraph description of the invention (Abstract)
  • Number of drawings
  • A drawing representing the invention 
    
    

Drawings
The drawings help convey what the features of the invention are and, along with the description, are used to explain all the claims.   

Description
The description is a detailed disclosure of the invention.  In modern patents, the description generally starts with background information and then gives a full disclosure of the features of the invention.  The description must be detailed enough so that someone who is "skilled" in that field could reproduce the invention and it must explain and support all the claims.   Sometimes the description is called the specification(s) portion of the patent. 

Claims
Although the claims are the last element of a patent, they are the most important part. This is where the inventor specifically states ("I claim") what s/he invented.  Essentially the claims define what the inventor may prevent others from manufacturing, using and selling; the words and phrasing of the claims are critical to establishing the extent and/or limitations of the invention.   

The information in this box was taken from the in-depth Patent LibGuide created by Linda Shackle at Arizona State University, used with permission.