Patent Terms Glossary

PCT

Definition:
Patent Cooperation Treaty - provides a mechanism by which an applicant can file a single application that, when certain requirements have been fulfilled, is equivalent to a regular national filing in each designated Contracting State.

DO

Definition:
Designated Office - the national Office or intergovernmental organization of or acting for the Contracting State designated by the applicant under Chapter I of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

IC

Definition:
International Class - class(es) assigned to a mark under the International Classification of Goods and Services (Nice Agreement); used in the United States since 1 September 1973

Doctrine Of Equivalents

Definition:
A judicially created theory for finding patent infringement when the accused process or product falls outside the literal scope of the patent claims.

Citation Counts

Definition:
Citation counts are a formal acknowledgement of intellectual debt to earlier patents and previously published scientific research papers.

NPL

Definition:
Non Patent Literature -- documents and publications that are not patents or published patent applications but are cited as references for being relevant in a patent prosecution.

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