Patent Writing: How to Write a Quality Patent Application?

Patent writing is not as easy as people think. Only once you have acquired years of professional experience, it is easy to draft patent applications. One becomes proficient at identifying and delivering sky-scraping quality patent applications. One gains the ability to look at patent applications from different technical outlooks as well. Moreover, one is easily able to interpret a patent practitioner’s thinking process while drafting a patent application. However, when one remains unknown about the process of patent writing, one must start gaining tips on its basic features.

Possessing patent writing skills is extremely advantageous for solo, professional as well as corporate inventors who work for companies. It aids in simplifying their motive to write a quality patent application that completely describes the invention. However, describing the invention may pose a few challenges as it is not as easy as it might seem. Hence, it becomes crucial to follow the basic skills involved in delivering an application that suffices to protect any invention.

Also Read: The Actual Cost to File Patent: What All to Spend On?

Most Common Parts of a Writing a Patent Application

Patent writing is a comprehensive, legal process that is best conducted by the ones trained to carry out such processes. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the governing body that sets the requirements of a non-provisional patent application. Further, the examiner assesses the quality of a non-provisional patent application. The patent gets issued only when all the requirements of an ideal patent application are met thereafter. Thus, one may look at the following application requirements while writing a patent application.

• Patent writing requires submission in the English language or translation in the English language. If an applicant fails to do so, he would be given notice and a period to submit the missing item.
• One must convert the patent application in a PDF format with specified margins to upload it on the EFS-web portal. Moreover, during the online submission of patent application, one must provide numbers and lines consecutively on application pages.
• The patent application must contain the oath or declaration. It acts as a formal statement saying that the inventor believes himself to be the original inventor of the claimed invention. Following this, one may submit a declaration instead of an oath. The oath and declaration must be submitted in English language or translated into English language complying with USPTO rules.
• If necessary, one must provide the sequence listing of the nucleotide amino acid sequences in paper or electronic form.

Also Read: Patent Process Guide: The Complete Breakdown

Key Specifications Required while Patent Writing

One must provide suitable specifications in the patent application which includes the written description of the invention. The specification must provide all information in full, clear, concise and exact terms to which the invention pertains. Moreover, the specifications must contain the required elements as listed below.

Title of the Invention

One must place the title of the invention in a brief, technically accurate manner at the top of the page. The title must contain less than 500 characters and must not contain articles including ‘a’, ‘an’, ‘the’ in the beginning. Moreover, one must include the name, citizenship and residence of each applicant.

Cross-reference to Related Applications

One must include a prior reference to any previous provisional or non-provisional patent application from which he affirms to attain benefit. According to the updated criteria, all the non-provisional utility patent applications filed after September 16, 2020, must contain this element. Hence, all the patent practitioners consider including this feature in all future patent applications.

Statement Regarding Federally Sponsored R&D

One must include a statement considering the rights to inventions made under federally sponsored research and development in its patent application. The stated must be done if the invention was developed under contract with an agency of the US government. Moreover, one may find it crucial to include this statement when there is a governmental interest in an invention.

Background of the Invention

The patent application must specify the background of the invention using the following elements.

• Field of the invention: this statement outlines the field to which the invention is entitled to. To explicitly describe this element, one may also include paraphrases of US patent classification definitions.
• Description of the Related Art: this element contains a description of the known prior-art about the invention. Moreover, it may also include references to specific patents and other documents along with limitations to prior-arts.

Summary of the Invention

The summary of the invention is used to emphasize the nature and purpose of the invention. It aids in providing immense facilitation in understanding the invention and how it can benefit the era in the future. For this reason, the summary is laid in plain and easy to comprehend language and is designed to remain barefaced. Moreover, the summary must pertain in relevance to the claimed invention. Hence, it must include statements portraying the significance of the objects of the invention.

Descriptions of the Drawings

The descriptions about drawings must include a brief description containing the caption of the drawing. The caption must portray the exact idea behind the invention which allows the reader to interpret what the drawing is about. Following this, the patent application must include a detailed description of the drawings. The applicant may use their terminologies taking into account the reader’s understanding. The description must involve the usage of concise details to entitle the reader to make use of the invention without any undue experimentation. This section must illustrate and provide the adequate groundwork to all the terms used in the claims. Thus, to lighten this process, one may make use of reference characters. This would help the reader to look through the text and grasp the actual understanding of the illustrations.

Claims

This section deals with the actual subject matter which revolves around the major idea behind the invention. Claim defines the scope of the protection of the invention. Not only this, but it also defines the extent to which a patent can get granted. The claims must begin on a new page with appropriate numbering. Potray each claim in a single sentence and separate each step by a line indentation.

Also Read: Proofread Patent Claims to Avoid Abandonment

Abstract

Every application must include an abstract of the disclosure aiming at the reader to rapidly interpret the gist of the technical part of the invention. However, the abstract must not involve the relevant applications associated with the invention. Furthermore, the abstract must portray the technical part of the invention by describing the following.

• The operations and conformation of the machine or the apparatus involved;
• The procedure and make-up of the article involved; and
• The ingredients and textures of the respective mixtures.

Related Article: A Proven Approach to Identify Quality Patents in Any Industry

We are there to help you out with patent writing!

Patent Drafting Catalyst provides its client with the most comprehensive patent writing services. Our experts at PDC possess the most remarkable expertise in conducting patent writing activities. These activities are facilitated while eradicating all possible errors and suggesting all possible corrections. Moreover, Patent Drafting Catalyst ensures 100% data security through its proficient delivery services.

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