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Patents are somewhat complex documents that detail
different pieces of vital information. Roll your cursor over the image
below to see explanations of the different parts of a patent.
A few notes before you begin:
- What you will find: Because the
patent document is an official record that provides detailed
information about specific inventions, inventors are required to make a
full disclosure of the invention so that someone who is skilled in the
technological area of the invention can reproduce the invention by
using the information contained in the patent.
- Read the Entire Disclosure: This is
especially important for inventors. The detailed description of the
invention has more information than the abstract or the claims. Note
that if your invention is described anywhere in the patent, the patent
will affect your ability to patent your invention.
- Image Files: The image files of
patents are electronic facsimiles of the original USPTO patent
documents that grant rights to inventors. The files are complete in two
ways: first, every known patent issued since 1790 is present in the
database; secondly, each patent in the database is complete with all
drawings, descriptions, claims, and other information.
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