Disclosure Statement by the applicant. An Information Disclosure Statement contains a listing of any patent publications and other information of which the applicant is aware and which is relevant to the examination of his or her application. An applicant must submit this document in order to comply with the duty of candor and good faith toward the Patent Office. Failure to do so could later enable another party to invalidate the issued patent.
EXAMINATION OF THE PATENT APPLICATION BY THE PATENT OFFICE
An application filed in the Patent and Trademark Office is assigned for examination to a group of patent Examiners having responsibility for the category of inventions to which the application relates. The Examiner is charged with making a thorough study of the application and all of the available public information pertaining to the subject matter of the claimed invention. It is the Examiner’s job to determine whether the invention is patentable as claimed, so the Examiner determines whether the invention is new, non-obvious, and useful. In addition, the Examiner determines whether the application complies with certain formalities and various other statutory requirements. After the initial examination is completed, the applicant is notified of the Examiner’s decision in a communication known as an “Office Action”. The Examiner may allow claims, reject claims, object to formal matters, or any combination thereof. If an Examiner allows a claim, it means that he or she believes the claim is patentable and that a patent should be issued incorporating that claim. If the invention is not considered patentable, or not
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