evergreen

en-verb

evergreen (third-person singular simple present evergreens, present participle evergreening, simple past and past participle evergreened)

evergreens (present singular third-person)
evergreening (participle present)
evergreened (participle past)
evergreened (past)

(patent law, pharmaceuticals) To extend the term of a patent beyond the normal legal limit, usually through repeated small modifications.


industry

en-noun

industry (countable and uncountable, plural industries)

From Middle English industry, industrie, from Old French industrie, from Latin industria (“diligence, activity, industry”), from industrius (“diligent, active, zealous”), from Old Latin indostruus (“diligent, active”); origin unknown. Perhaps from indu (“in”) + ūst-, ūstr-, stem of ūrō (“burn, burn up, consume”, verb), related to Old High German ūstrī (“industry”), Old English andūstrian (“to hate, detest”, literally “to be consumed with zeal”).

cog

It is a classical and restricted view both of industry (it excludes service sectors, now 70% of the GDP of developed economies)[…]

2007, Dominique Guellec with Bruno van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, The economics of the European patent system, page 122:

(Europe software patent law) Automated production of material goods.


comprise

en-verb

comprise (third-person singular simple present comprises, present participle comprising, simple past and past participle comprised)

comprises (present singular third-person)
comprising (participle present)
comprised (participle past)
comprised (past)

From Middle English comprisen, from Old French compris, past participle of comprendre, from Latin comprehendere, contr. comprendere, past participle comprehensus (“to comprehend”); see comprehend. Compare apprise, reprise, surprise.

Coordinate term: compose (close-ended)

(patent law) To include, contain, or be made up of, defining the minimum elements, whether essential or inessential to define an invention.


public domain

From public (“able to be seen or known by everyone”) + domain (“field or sphere of activity, expertise, or influence”).

公有的

As the copyright in this book has lapsed, it is now in the public domain.

intellectual property
intellectual property

(also attributively) Often preceded by in the.

The state of not being owned by anyone, and thus freely usable by everyone.

(specifically, law) The realm of intellectual property which is not or no longer protected by copyrights or patents, and thus over which no person can establish a proprietary interest.


rejoinder

/ɹɪd͡ʒˈɔɪndɚ/

From Middle English rejoinder, rejonder, rejoynder, from Middle French rejoindre, with infinitive used as noun frequent in Law French. Doublet of rejoin.

(US patent law) Re-insertion, typically after allowance of a patent application, of patent claims that had been withdrawn from examination under a restriction requirement.


patent

en-noun

patent (countable and uncountable, plural patents)

The noun is derived from Middle English patent (“document granting an office, property, right, title, etc.; document granting permission, licence; papal indulgence, pardon”) [and other forms], which is either:
* a clipping of lettre patent, lettres patente, lettres patentes [and other forms]; or
* directly from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (modern French patent), a clipping of Anglo-Norman lettres patentes, Middle French lettres patentes, lettre patente, and Old French patentes lettres (“document granting an office, privilege, right, etc., or making a decree”) (compare Late Latin patēns, littera patēns, litterae patentēs).
For the derivation of Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (adjective) in lettre patente, see etymology 2 below.
The verb is derived from the noun.

nb...

patent lettre, patent lettres, patente lettre, patente lettres

der

[pʰe̞ɪʔn̩t̚]

[…] Squib proved clearly by his patent that the house and office did now belong to him.

1660 February 20 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “February 10th, 1659–1660”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume I, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC, page 52:

Philip of Spain had offered a reward of 25,000 crowns, a patent of nobility, and immunity for all past crimes, to the assassinator of the Prince of Orange.

1858, John M. Neale, A History of the So-called Jansenist Church of Holland, page 116:

An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.


rejoin

en-verb

rejoin (third-person singular simple present rejoins, present participle rejoining, simple past and past participle rejoined)

rejoins (present singular third-person)
rejoining (participle present)
rejoined (participle past)
rejoined (past)

From Middle English rejoynen, from Middle French rejoin- (stem of rejoindre, from re- (“again”) + joindre (“to join”)). By surface analysis, re- + join. Doublet of rejoinder.

/ɹiːˈd͡ʒɔɪn/

(patent law, nonstandard) in US patent law To re-insert a patent claim, typically after allowance of a patent application, applied to patent claims that had been withdrawn from examination under a restriction requirement, based on rejoinder (patent law).


SPC

en-noun

SPC (countable and uncountable, plural SPCs)

(patent law) Initialism of supplementary protection certificate.


evergreening

(patent law, pharmaceuticals) The practice of slightly altering a drug to extend patent protections.


thereatop

/ˌðɛəɹəˈtɒp/

/ˌðɛəɹəˈtɒp/

For quotations using this term, see Citations:thereatop.


lay open

en-verb

lay open (third-person singular simple present lays open, present participle laying open, simple past and past participle laid open)

lays open (present singular third-person)
laying open (participle present)
laid open (participle past)
laid open (past)

(patent law, Japan and South Korea) To publish a patent for initial public review, prior to the formal application for registration.


patentee

The patentee in his specifications speaks of triphenylguanidine and compares its operation as an accelerator with that guanidine, the utility of which as an accelerator he claims to have discovered, called diphenylguanidine.

1929, Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents and of the United States Courts in Patent and Trade-mark and Copyright Cases, page 256:

Probably the patentee, whilst fully realising the need for drivers receiving clear signals, did not fully appreciate the primary object of the signalling system.

1946 November and December, “Notes and News: Colour-Light Signals 100 Years Ago”, in Railway Magazine, page 387:

One to whom a grant is made, or a privilege secured, by patent; a person, group, company etc. that has been granted a patent.


PHOSITA

person having ordinary skill in the art#English

(patent law) Abbreviation of person having ordinary skill in the art.


prior art

The significance of this language in section 102(e)(2) is that a PCT application can serve as prior art even though the applicant never files in the United States.

2022, Craig Allen Nard, The Law of Patents, Aspen Publishing, →ISBN:

(patent law) In most systems of patent law, all information that has been made available to the public in any form before a given date that might be relevant to a patent's claims of originality, and to which the patent application is compared to determine if it in fact describes a new invention.

tekniikan taso

information that has been made available to the public — see also state of the art

the level of knowledge that was public prior to the patent


patent troll

From patent + troll (“in folklore, a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills, or under bridges”), a reference to trolls in folktales who block the path of travellers or threaten to harm them unless some payment is made.

On one hand, the new law may intend to enhance the application of new technologies and discourage patent trolls. On the other hand, the new law attempts to further bring the Patent Law in line with the international treaties and laws in other areas (e.g., antimonopoly law).

1990, William P. Streng, Allen D. Wilcox, editors, Doing Business in China: (People’s Republic of China), volume 2, New York, N.Y.: Matthew Bender, →ISBN, page 278:

So favorable was the Federal Circuit's treatment of patents, in fact, that reinventing, nonmanufacturing speculators who would acquire one or more patents with a view toward using their leverage to reap large damages awards, leading to the sobriquet, patent "trolls," began to emerge as plaintiffs who would often put entire industries in patent peril. Thus was born (or became more common) the "patentee" who neither invented nor practiced the subject matter of its invention, but rather, sought to profit by licensing its patent under the threat of litigation, injunctive relief and substantial damages in the propatent climate that the Federal Circuit's views had created.

1992, Roger M. Milgrim, Milgrim on Trade Secrets, volume 2, Newark, N.J.: LexisNexis, →ISBN:

Most companies are reluctant to get the best return on their most valuable assets. [...] Being publicly branded a patent "troll" adds to the turmoil. Patent trolls are controversial not because of the destruction attributed to them, but because they strike at the heart of the complex relationship between innovation and commerce. The term has become synonymous with the unfair assertion of IP rights and extortion of damage payments.

2006, Bruce [M.] Berman, “Roadblocks or Building Blocks?”, in Bruce Berman, editor, Making Innovation Pay: People Who Turn IP into Shareholder Value, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 3:

Recently, firms that specialize in acquiring patents purely for litigation—often derided as ‘patent trolls’ by the targets of their lawsuits—have emerged as significant players in some technology markets.

2006, Timothy S. Simcoe, “Open Standards and Intellectual Property Rights”, in Henry Chesbrough, Wim Vanhaverbeke, Joel West, editors, Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part II (Institutions Governing Open Innovation), page 175:

During the early 21st century, a number of patent and licensing enforcement companies (PLECs), more commonly referred to as "patent trolls," emerged. Their only business is to acquire patents and then sue infringers.

2008, Lindsay Moore, Lesley Craig, “The Law in Flux”, in Intellectual Capital in Enterprise Success: Strategy Revisited, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, part II (The Changing Rules), page 54:

The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.

2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-03-26, page 55:

Because software patents can cover vast areas of territory, they are the weapon of choice for "patent trolls": people or companies that hold patents but make no products, and bring patent-infringement lawsuits against companies that do make products, offering to settle for less than the cost of fighting the suit.

2014 March 28, Robin Feldman, “Slowing the patent trolls”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2014-03-29:

(patent law, informal, derogatory) A company, person, etc., that owns and enforces patents in an aggressive and opportunistic manner, often with no intention of producing, marketing, or promoting the subjects of the patents.


PCT

Patent Cooperation Treaty
w:Patent Cooperation Treaty

(patent law) Initialism of Patent Cooperation Treaty.


patentably

en-adv

patentably (comparative more patentably, superlative most patentably)

more patentably (comparative)
most patentably (superlative)

The CREATE Act will now permit patents with patentably indistinct claims to be separately owned, but remain valid.

1998, Jerome Rosenstock, Patent Interference Practice Handbook, →ISBN, page 17-17:

If you included more than one embodiment and if the overall appearance or scope of the each embodiment is patentably distinct, a restriction will be required even though all embodiments are functionally the same.

2005, Kay H. Chin, United States Design Patent Do it Yourself!, →ISBN, page 58:


nonprovisional

Utility and plant patents support two types of applications, a provisional application and a nonprovisional application[…].

2005, Practical Engineering Design, →ISBN, page 157:

Two filing fees are therefore incurred, and the total exceeds that of the nonprovisional alone.

2007, M. Henry Heines, Patents for Business, →ISBN, page 179:

Nonprovisional patent applications undergo full Patent Office review and establish the filing date.

2011, Dean O. Smith, Managing the Research University, →ISBN, page 245:


patent trolling

/ˈpætənt ˌtɹəʊlɪŋ/

From patent troll, which is derived from patent + troll (“in folklore, a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills, or under bridges”), a reference to trolls in folktales who block the path of travellers or threaten to harm them unless some payment is made.

(patent law, informal, derogatory) The practice of owning and enforcing patents in an aggressive and opportunistic manner, often with no intention of marketing or promoting the subjects of the patents


trademark troll

en-noun

trademark troll (plural trademark trolls)

(patent law, derogatory) An entity that registers a trademark without intending to use it and who then threatens to sue others who use that mark.


copyright troll

copyright troll (plural copyright trolls)

(patent law, derogatory) A person or company that enforces copyrights that it holds for purposes of generating income through strategic litigation, in a manner considered unduly aggressive or opportunistic.


spider in the web doctrine

(patent law) A doctrine in Dutch patent law governing cross-border injunctions in patent infringement cases, according to which the Dutch courts assume jurisdiction only in cases where the main defendant (the "spider") is located in the Netherlands and where the other defendants are part of a group of companies and act based on a common business policy of this group (the "web"), regardless of the nation in which the disputed patent was issued.


triadic patent

China registered only 0.3 per cent of the world's ‘triadic’ patents (valid in Japan, the EU and US) last year.

2007 October 13, Will Hutton, “Will China's next leader be its Gorbachev?”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

A patent filed in Europe (EPO), the United States (USPTO), and Japan (JPO).