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Introduction | |
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Introduction to Patents and Other Intellectual Property | |
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What Is a Patent and Who Can Apply for It? | |
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The Three Types of Patents | |
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The Novelty and Unobviousness Requirement | |
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How Long Do Patent Rights Last? | |
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Patent Filing Deadlines | |
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Patent Fees | |
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The Scope of the Patent | |
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How Patent Rights Can Be Lost | |
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What Rights a Patent Grants and the Prior-Art Reference Value of a Patent | |
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What Can't Be Patented | |
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Some Common Patent Misconceptions | |
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How Intellectual Property Law Provides "Offensive Rights" (and Not Protection) to Inventors | |
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Alternative and Supplementary Offensive Rights | |
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Intellectual Property--The Big Picture | |
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Trademarks | |
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Copyright | |
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Trade Secrets | |
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Unfair Competition | |
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Acquisition of Offensive Rights in Intellectual Property--Summary Chart | |
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Selection Guide to Which Type of Intellectual Property Is Best for Your Creation | |
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Invention Exploition Flowchart | |
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The Science and Magic of Inventing | |
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What I Mean by "Invention" | |
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Inventing by Problem Recognition and Solution | |
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Inventing by Magic (Accident and Flash of Genius) | |
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Making Ramifications of Your Invention | |
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Solving Creativity Problems | |
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Contact Other Inventors | |
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Beware of the Novice Inventor's "PGL Syndrome" | |
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Don't Bury Your Invention | |
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Documentation, the DDP, and the PPA | |
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Introduction | |
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Documents Are Vital to the Invention Process | |
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Documentation Is Vital to Prove Invention | |
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Trade Secret Considerations | |
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Record the Building and Testing of Your Invention | |
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How to Record Your Invention | |
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Another Way to Record Conception or Building and Testing--The Invention Disclosure | |
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The Disclosure Document Program (DDP)--Or How to Make the PTO Your Witness to Conception | |
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The Provisional Patent Application--A Substitute for Building and Testing, With Some Disadvantages | |
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Don't Use the So-Called "Post Office Patent" to Document Your Invention | |
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Will Your Invention Sell? | |
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Why Evaluate Your Invention for Salability? | |
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Start Small but Ultimately Do It Completely | |
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You Can't Be 100% Sure of Any Invention's Commercial Prospects | |
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Take Time to Do a Commercial Feasibility Evaluation | |
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Check Your Marketability Conclusions Using the Techniques of Consultation and Research | |
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Now's the Time to Build and Test It (If Possible) | |
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Summary | |
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What Is Patentable? | |
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Patentability Compared to Commercial Viability | |
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Legal Requirements for a Utility Patent | |
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The Statutory Classes | |
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Utility | |
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Novelty | |
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Unobviousness | |
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The Patentability Flowchart | |
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Search and You May Find | |
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Why Make a Patentability Search? | |
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When Not to Search | |
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The Two Ways to Make a Patentability Search | |
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How to Make a Preliminary Search | |
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The Quality of a Patent Search Can Vary | |
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How to Hire a Patent Professional | |
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How to Prepare Your Searcher | |
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Analyzing the Search Report | |
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Do-It-Yourself Searching in the PTO | |
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The Scope of Patent Coverage | |
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Searching It Yourself in a Patent and Trademark Depository Library | |
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Computer Searching | |
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Searching Software Inventions in the Software Patent Institute's Database | |
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The IBM Patent Searching System on the Internet | |
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Consider Your Options | |
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Drop It If You Don't See Commercial Potential | |
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Try to Sell Invention to Manufacturer Without "Regular" Patent Application | |
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File an Application and Sell It to or License a Manufacturer If You See Commercial Potential and Patentability | |
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If You Have Commercial Potential Without Patentability, License or Sell Your Invention to a Manufacturer Without Filing | |
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Make and Sell Your Invention Yourself Without a Utility Patent Application | |
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Manufacture and Distribute Your Invention Yourself, Keeping It As a Trade Secret | |
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File Patent Application and Manufacture and Distribute Your Invention Yourself (Trade-Secretable Invention) | |
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File Patent Application and Manufacture and Distribute Invention Yourself (Non-Trade-Secretable Invention) | |
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Test Market Before Filing | |
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How to Draft the Specification and Initial Drawings | |
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Lay Inventors Can Do It! | |
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What's Contained in a Patent Application | |
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What Happens When Your Application Is Received by the PTO? | |
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Do Preliminary Work Before Preparing Your Patent Application | |
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Flowchart | |
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Writing Your Patent Specification to Comply With the Full Disclosure Rules | |
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Software and Other Computer-Related Inventions | |
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First Prepare Sketches | |
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Drafting the Specification | |
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Drafting the Abstract | |
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Review Your Specification and Abstract Carefully | |
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Checklist for Your Patent Application Draft | |
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Specification of Sample Patent Application | |
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Now for the Legalese--The Claims | |
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What Are Claims? | |
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The Law Regarding Claims | |
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Some Sample Claims | |
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Common Misconceptions Regarding Claims | |
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One Claim Should Be As Broad As Possible | |
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The Effect of Prior Art on Your Claim | |
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Technical Requirements of Claims | |
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Drafting Your Main (Independent) Claim | |
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Other Techniques in Claim Writing | |
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Drafting Dependent Claims | |
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Drafting Additional Sets of Claims | |
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Checklist for Draft Claims | |
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Finaling and Mailing Your Application | |
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The Drawing Choices | |
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PTO Rules for Drawings | |
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Doing Your Own Drawings | |
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Consider Using a Professional Patent Draftsperson | |
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Finaling Your Specification, Claims, and Abstract | |
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Name All True Inventors and Only True Inventors | |
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Completing the Patent Application Declaration | |
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Fill Out the Small Entity Declaration If Appropriate | |
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Complete the Transmittal Letter and Fee Transmittal, Check, and Postcard | |
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Maintain an Orderly File | |
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Assembly and Mailing of Your Application--Final Checklist | |
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Using Express Mail to Get an Instant Filing Date | |
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Receipt That Application Was Received in PTO | |
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File the Information Disclosure Statement Within Three Months | |
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Assignments | |
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Petitions to Make Special | |
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Filing a Design Patent Application | |
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How to Market Your Invention | |
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Perseverance and Patience Are Essential | |
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Overview of Alternative Ways to Profit From Your Invention | |
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Be Ready to Demonstrate a Working Model of Your Invention to Potential Customers | |
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Finding Prospective Manufacturers/Distributors | |
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The "NIH" Syndrome | |
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The Waiver and Precautions in Signing It | |
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The Best Way to Present Your Invention to a Manufacturer | |
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Presenting Your Invention by Correspondence | |
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Making an Agreement to Sell Your Invention | |
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Manufacturing and/or Distributing the Invention Yourself | |
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Going Abroad | |
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Introduction | |
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The Paris Convention and the One-Year Foreign Filing Rule | |
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Other Priority Treaties Similar to the Paris Convention | |
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European Patent Office/Europaisches Patentamt/Office europeen des brevets (EPO) | |
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The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) | |
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Non-Convention Countries | |
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Never Wait Until the End of Any Filing Period | |
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The Early Foreign Filing License or Mandatory Six-Month Delay | |
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Don't File Abroad Unless Your Invention Has Very Good Prospects in Another Country | |
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The Patent Laws of Other Countries Are Different | |
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The Ways to File Abroad | |
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Resources to Assist in Foreign Filing | |
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Getting the PTO to Deliver | |
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What Happens After Your Patent Application Is Filed? | |
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General Considerations During Patent Prosecution | |
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A Sample Office Action | |
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What to Do When You Receive an Office Action | |
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Format for Amending the Specification and Claims | |
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Drafting the Remarks | |
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Drawing Amendments | |
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Typing and Mailing the Amendment | |
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If Your Application Is Allowable | |
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If Your First Amendment Doesn't Result in Allowance | |
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Interferences | |
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Statutory Invention Registration (SIR) | |
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If Your Application Claims More Than One Invention | |
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Protests Against Allowance of Your Patent Application | |
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NASA Declarations | |
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Design Patent Application Prosecution | |
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What to Do If You Miss or Want to Extend a PTO Deadline | |
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Your Application Can Have Children | |
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Available Extension Cases | |
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Continuation Applications | |
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Divisional Applications | |
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Continuation-in-Part and Independent Applications | |
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Reissue Applications | |
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Statutory Invention Registration and Defensive Publications | |
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Substitute Applications | |
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Double Patenting and Terminal Disclaimers | |
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After Your Patent Issues: Use, Maintenance, and Infringement | |
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Always on Tuesdays | |
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Press Release | |
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Check Your Patent for Errors | |
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Patent Number Marking | |
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Advertising Your Patent for Sale | |
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What Rights Does Your Patent Give You? | |
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Be Wary of Offers to Provide Information About Your Patent | |
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Maintenance Fees | |
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Legal Options If You Discover an Infringement of Your Patent | |
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What to Do About Patent Infringement | |
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Product Clearance (Can I Legally Copy or Make That?) | |
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The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) | |
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Using the Re-Examination Process to Reduce the Expense of Patent Infringement Suits | |
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Jury Trials | |
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Arbitration | |
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How Patent Rights Can Be Forfeited | |
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Your Patent Is Subject to Interference for One Year | |
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Taxes | |
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Patent Litigation Financing | |
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Ownership, Assignment, and Licensing of Inventions | |
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The Property Nature of Patents | |
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Who Can Apply for a Patent? | |
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Joint Owners' Agreement | |
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Special Issues Faced by the Employed Inventor | |
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Assignment of Invention and Patent Rights | |
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Record Your Assignment With the PTO | |
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Licensing of Inventions--An Overview | |
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Universal License Agreement | |
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How Much Should You Get for Your Invention? | |
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Postscript | |
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Appendices | |
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Abbreviations Used in Patent It Yourself | |
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Books of Use and Interest | |
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Glossary of Useful Technical Terms | |
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Fee Schedule | |
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Mail, Telephone, and Computer Communications With the PTO and Internet Sites | |
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Quick-Reference Timing Chart | |
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Tear-Out Forms | |
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Index | |