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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 | |