| | Your Legal Companion | |
| | Patents and Intellectual Property Law | |
| | What Is a Patent? | p. 6 |
| | The Three Types of Patents | p. 7 |
| | Patent Rights | p. 8 |
| | The Requirements for Obtaining a Patent | p. 8 |
| | How Long Do Patent Rights Last? | p. 9 |
| | How Patent Rights Can Be Lost | p. 9 |
| | Intellectual Property-The Big Picture | p. 10 |
| | Trademarks | p. 11 |
| | Copyright | p. 12 |
| | Trade Secrets | p. 15 |
| | Unfair Competition | p. 18 |
| | Qualifying for a Patent | |
| | Legal Requirements for a Utility Patent | p. 20 |
| | Statutory Classes | p. 21 |
| | Utility | p. 25 |
| | Novelty and Prior Art | p. 27 |
| | Nonobviousness | p. 34 |
| | Legal Requirements for a Design Patent | p. 42 |
| | Legal Requirements for a Plant Patent | p. 45 |
| | Invention Documentation | |
| | The Importance of Documentation | p. 48 |
| | Lab Notebook | p. 49 |
| | Invention Disclosure | p. 52 |
| | Documenting Reduction to Practice: Provisional Patent Application | p. 52 |
| | Trade Secret Considerations | p. 54 |
| | Patent Searching | |
| | Principles of Patent Searching | p. 58 |
| | Hiring a Patent Searcher | p. 59 |
| | Do-It-Yourself Searching | p. 61 |
| | Reading and Writing Patents | |
| | Elements of a Patent | p. 75 |
| | Invention and Inventor Data | p. 75 |
| | Specification | p. 75 |
| | Claims | p. 86 |
| | Abstract | p. 91 |
| | Drawings | p. 94 |
| | Preparation of a Patent Application | p. 94 |
| | Patent Prosecution and the PTO | |
| | Patent Prosecution: The Road to Allowance | p. 108 |
| | Responding to a Final Office Action | p. 118 |
| | Additional Application Issues | p. 120 |
| | Design Patent Prosecution | p. 122 |
| | Patent Ownership | |
| | The Inventor Is Initial Owner of Patent Rights | p. 126 |
| | Employee Inventions | p. 126 |
| | Joint Owners | p. 131 |
| | Patent Infringement | |
| | What Is Patent Infringement? | p. 138 |
| | Who Can Sue, Who Can Be Sued? | p. 143 |
| | Stopping Patent Infringement | p. 144 |
| | Defenses to Patent Infringement | p. 149 |
| | Ending Disputes Without a Lawsuit | p. 153 |
| | International Patent Law | |
| | Introduction to Foreign Patent Treaties and Laws | p. 156 |
| | Putting It Together: The Most Common Route for U.S. Inventors Seeking Foreign Patent Coverage | p. 160 |
| | The Paris Convention and the One-Year Foreign Filing Rule | p. 160 |
| | The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) | p. 162 |
| | European Patent Office (EPO) | p. 164 |
| | Locating Foreign Patent Agents | p. 165 |
| | Help Beyond This Book | |
| | Inventor Resources | p. 172 |
| | Patents and Intellectual Property Resources | p. 172 |
| | Working With an Attorney | p. 174 |
| | Glossary | |
| | Index | |