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Derwent Innovations Index Glossary
Abstract
A short, 250-500 word description about the claims and disclosures of the
invention. Derwent subject experts review the patent specifications and write
the description of the invention in English.
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Assignee
The individual(s) or corporate body to whom all or limited rights under a
patent are legally transferred.
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Citation
A citation is a reference to an earlier patent (both US patents and foreign
patents) or to previously published articles.
Citations are made by either the patent examiner, the inventor, or both. They
are believed to be relevant prior art
and may provide valuable background information on the development and
importance of the patent.
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Company Code
To standardize company names, Derwent assigns a unique four-letter code to
approximately 21,000 companies worldwide.
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Compound
A compound is a chemical substance formed by a union of two or more elements.
For example, salt is a compound of sodium and chlorine because it is a distinct
substance formed by the chemical union of two elements in definite proportion by
weight.
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Derwent Chemistry Resource Number
A unique identifier assigned to specific chemical compounds in the
Derwent Chemistry Resource database. The identifier forms a link
between the compound database and the corresponding bibliographical records
indexed in the Derwent World Patents Index®.
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Element
An element is one of 105 known substances that cannot be split by chemical
means into simpler substances. For example, aluminum, sodium, and chlorine are
elements.
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European Patent Convention (EPC)
Nineteen European countries are parties to the European Patent Convention. A
patent application filed under this convention will, when granted, usually
automatically be effective in each of the countries designated by the applicant.
The inventor, however, must still apply for patent protection in each of the
member countries even though the EPO provides a standard procedure for the
filing of patents.
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Examiner
A patent office official who is appointed to determine the patentability of
applications.
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Intellectual Property
Refers to creations of the mind such as inventions, trademarks, literary and
artistic works, symbols, images, architectural designs, and so forth. Patents
are one way of protecting intellectual property; copyrights and trademarks are
other ways of protecting intellectual property.
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Novel
A patent must be new or original. That is, the invention must never have been
made public in any way, anywhere, before the date on which the application for a
patent is filed.
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Obviousness
The concept that the claims defining an invention in a patent application
must involve an inventive step if, when compared with what is already known,
that is prior art, it would not be
obvious to someone skilled in the art.
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Patent
A patent is a document that defines the rights conferred by law to an
inventor of a published specification. The inventor has the exclusive right to
make use of and exploit the invention for a limited period of time. A patent
must be obtained in each country where patent protection is sought.
Patents are a form of intellectual property protection. They should not be
confused with trademarks, servicemarks, and copyrighted material, which are
other forms of protection of intellectual property.
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Patent Assignee
The individual(s) or corporate body to whom all or limited rights of the
patent are legally transferred.
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Patent Family
A patent family is a set of individual patents granted by various countries.
Think of a patent family as all the equivalent patent applications corresponding
to a single invention, covering different geographical regions.
As applications are made for patents of an invention in countries around the
world, Derwent links these patents together into a patent family structure.
Derwent then tracks the development of the patents, indexing all updates
received from the various international patent authorities.
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Patent Number
A patent number is a unique identifier of a patent. For example,
EP178925 and US4796266 are valid patent
numbers.
Patent numbers are assigned to each patent document by the patent-issuing
authority. Derwent inputs the two-character
WIPO country code of the publishing
country, followed by the serial number (up to 10 characters), and a status code
indicating the document type or publication stage.
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Patent-Issuing Authority
Any country or organization with the authority and the power to issue
patents.
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Primary Accession Number (PAN)
A unique identification number assigned by Derwent to the first patent in
each patent family, and therefore to the record created for that family. The
format of each accession number is yyyy-Lnnnnn, where yyyy is a
four-digit year, L is an alphabetic character, and
nnnnn is a five-digit assigned number. Example:
2008-F11138
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Prior Art
Previously used or published technology that may be referred to in a patent
application or an examination report.
More information?
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Priority Application Information and Date
Under the right of priority provision of the Paris Convention an application
may be filed in one or more contracting states or countries within 12 months of
the first application. In this case the original application number becomes the
priority application number and the original application date becomes the
priority application date.
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Useful
The concept that the claims defining the invention are fit for some
desirable, practical, or commercial purpose. It must have some utilitarian
value.
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World Intellectual Property Organization
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an international
organization dedicated to promoting the use and protection of intellectual
property.
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