IRF

n most countries, the maximum term or life of a patent is 20 years from the filing date of the patent application. Periodic fees have to be paid in order to keep the patent in force for the maximum allowed term of the patent. If all patent renewal fees are up to date, the patent is considered in force for that country. A patent assignee may choose to keep a patent in force in some countries and not others, making the status of a European patent, once granted, rather difficult to determine. “In force” also refers to the status of a granted patent when all fees have been paid.

A claim that does not have any “according to claim x” in it. The first claim is always independent, but other independent claims also exist – in general it would start with “a process/device/composition comprising….”.

Unauthorised making, using, offering to sell, selling or importing any patented invention during the period in which patent coverage is maintained.

Intellectual property is a term that covers patents, designs, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and know-how.

International patent applications are issued by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) which implements the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). These applications are also called PCT applications and designated with the WO country code. PCT applications never result directly in patents. Rather, they are transferred during the National Phase to single country patent offices or regional authorities (See also Patent Office, Patent Authority).

An International Patent Classification system created under the Strasbourg Agreement, which is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). Most patent offices around the world use the International Classification system for classifying patents for search. International class numbers are in the form letter-number-letter (i.e. F16H), and are sub classified into subclasses which have the form number/number (i.e. 7/08), so that a complete classification for a chain tensioner would be F16H 7/08. The IPC system is hierarchical and is arranged primarily by function, rather than by structure. See also http://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/ipc8/?lang=en.

Type of search that involves looking at prior art available before the filing date of the patent publication in question such as articles in journals, previously filed patent applications, products on the market. The best way of invalidating a patent is by finding an example in a publication that contains all the features of the claim to be invalidated.

See Non-Obviousness.