| Abstract | The abstract is a required element of any patent application and it is a summarized statement of what the invention is and should not be used to disclosure specific, technical details of your invention. Rather, the abstract should permit a reader to determine if your patent application is something they should read further, depending on what particular feature or invention they are searching for. |
| Actual filing date | It is the actual date to which you filed or submitted your application. This date may or may not be your effective filing date, depending on if you claimed priority to another application. |
| Annuity fees | Annuity fees, also referred to as “annuities,” are government fees that patent applicants and patent holders must pay each year to maintain their patent rights. |
| Certification mark | A certification mark is any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination, used, or intended to be used, in commerce with the owner’s permission by someone other than its owner, to certify regional or other geographic origin, material, mode of manufacture, quality, accuracy, or other characteristics of someone’s goods or services, or that the work or labor on the goods or services was performed by members of a union or other organization. A certification mark is processed and treated substantially the same as a trademark. |
| Collective mark | A collective mark is a trademark or service mark used, or intended to be used, in commerce, by the members of a cooperative, an association, or other collective group or organization, including a mark which indicates membership in a union, an association, or other organization. |
| Copyright | Copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished. |
| Effective filing date | An effective filing date of a patent application is sometimes different than the actual filing date of the patent application. The effective filing date may be earlier than the actual filing date if an application claims “priority” to a previously filed and co-pending patent application. |
| Honest concurrent use | At times, two trademark owners use the same trademark in commerce. Typically, the owners lack awareness of each other. In a concurrent use application, an applicant requests a registration of a mark that another trademark owner also uses. |
| Paris Convention | The Paris Convention is an international treaty that enables residents of member countries to file patent applications in other member countries. |
| Patent Cooperation Treaty | The Patent Cooperation Treaty is an international treaty that facilitates foreign patent filings for residents of member countries when obtaining patents in other member countries. |