Patent Terms Glossary

Office Action

Definition:
A letter from a trademark examining attorney setting forth the legal status of a trademark application. There are several types of Office actions: examiner’s amendments, priority actions, and suspension inquiry letters.

Home Copy

Definition:
A copy of an international application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty maintained by the receiving Office where the international application was filed.

Novelty

Definition:
The concept that the claims must be totally new.

NPL

Definition:
Non Patent Literature -- documents and publications that are not patents or published patent applications but are cited as references for being relevant in a patent prosecution.

Nonprovisional Patent Application

Definition:
An application for patent filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) that includes all patent applications (i.e., utility, design, plant, and reissue) except provisional applications.

File Wrapper

Definition:
The folder into which papers for a particular application are collected and maintained. It contains a complete record of proceedings in the USPTO from the filing of the initial patent application to the issued patent.

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