Search Report: A report containing a list of citations of prior art
references that, in the opinion of the searcher, are material to the
patentability of a claimed invention. A search report often presents an opinion
of patentability.
Secondary Considerations: Objective evidence of the actual marketplace
setting in which an invention was made. This evidence is relevant to deciding
whether an invention is unobvious. Categories of such evidence would include
commercial success of the claimed invention, long-felt need that was met by the
invention, unexpected results achieved by the invention, failure of others to
make the invention, and copying of the invention by others.
Sequence Rules: Rules promulgated by a patent office that concern the
form of disclosures of inventions that contain nucleotide sequence data and/or
amino acid sequence data.
Serial Number: An identifying number given to each patent application
by the USPTO as of the day it is received or made complete.
Service Mark: A word, name, symbol or device, or any combination
thereof, used to identify and distinguish the services performed by a particular
entity form those performed by its competitors.
Skill in the Art: An ordinary level of proficiency in a particular
technology in which an invention is made.
Small Entity: The patent statutes distinguish two types of applicants,
small entities and large entities for the determination of fees. Small entities
often pay about half of what a large entity would for the same service. A small
entity includes companies with less than 500 employees and non-profit and
academic institutions. Often the term is used informally to distinguish the
smaller, newer and more entrepreneurial inventor entities, from the older,
larger established ones.
Special Status: A status granted for patent applications that have
certain characteristics upon successful petition to the USPTO. Applications
which are granted a special status are given a higher priority for examination.
Specification: That part of the patent which describes the invention
in sufficient detail so that someone knowledgeable in the art could practice it.
It is the main part of the patent. The term does not imply that the invention is
necessarily new or was ever protected. This includes the description, drawings
and claims of an invention prepared to support a patent application.
Status: The legal standing of a patent or patent application.
Statutory Bar: A bar to patentability established by law.
Statutory Invention Registration (SIR): Registration of an invention
with the USPTO to place an invention in the public domain. The disclosure of an
application for a Statutory Invention Registration is equivalent to the
specification and drawings of a patent application.
Statutory Period: The period within which a response be filed with the
USPTO if abandonment of the application is to be avoided.
Statutory Subject Matter: Patentable subject matter.
Substantive Examination: The examination of a patent application by a
patent office to determine whether a patent should be granted on the claimed
invention.
Substitute Patent Application: A patent application that is a
duplicate of an earlier application by the same applicant abandoned before the
filing of the later application.
Substitute Specification: A rewritten specification of a patent
application filed after the filing date of the application that corrects some
error but that does not introduce new matter.
Surrender of Patent: An act that occurs concurrently with the filing
of a reissue patent application in the USPTO.
Swearing Back of Reference: Removing a reference from the prior art by
providing evidence to the USPTO that either: (1) conception of the invention
occurred prior to the effective date of the reference and the inventor was
diligent in reducing the invention to practice from just before the effective
date of the reference until reduction to practice occurs; or (2) completion of
the invention occurred before the effective date.
