IP Glossary [F]

IP Glossary

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Family (Patent) ¶

All the national and regional applications referring to the same invention, generally linked by priority details (if signatories to the Paris Convention). A patent family is not a legal matter but is a construct put together by rules that vary among patent database producers.

FI/F-Terms ¶

Classification assigned by the Japanese Patent Office (JPO). See also http://www4.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/Tokujitu/tjftermena.ipdl?N0000=114.

glossary ip for ir classifications f

Filing Date ¶

Date on which the application was filed in the patent office.

glossary ip for ir general patent terms f

First to File ¶

Legal concept that ascribes the right to a patent to the first to file an application. This concept is the law for most patent offices. One exception is the US Patent Office.

glossary ip for ir general patent terms f

First to Invent ¶

Legal concept that ascribes the right to a patent to the first to invent. The United States is the only patent office that follows the first to invent concept. Others follow the First to File concept.

glossary ip for ir general patent terms f

Freedom-To-Operate (FTO) ¶

A type of search that looks for any third party patent rights that are still in force defining a product or process to be launched. Generally if a company wants to launch a new product, they would check to make sure no third party patents cover any part of their product prior to launch.

It is worth noting that if the product has three ingredients A, B, and C (and mostly they are in excess of 20) and will be launched in packet X with a particular design Y, any third party patent rights (in force) covering A, B, C, A+B, A+C or A+B+C, X or Y, would be potentially a threat to the launch. As patents generally only last for 20 years from filing, any patents prior to that date could be discounted. The legal status of the other patents found would then be checked. Once those no longer in force for the countries of interest have been discounted, a risk assessment of those remaining would be carried out as well as validity searches for any high risk patents.

glossary ip for ir patent search types f