How to read a patent in one minute

Suppose someone sued you for infringing a patent. You need to find out how bad everything is. Or, for example, your boss instructed you to check whether someone has violated a patent that you once received. And you don’t remember anything about it, because on average, it takes about four years for a patent examination , and by the time something interesting happens, you will safely forget about all this.

Or, for example, you read one of the eighty six-billions stories on Slashdot , which use the name of the patent to speculate on a topic from the category "guess what simple thing you thought of to patent." At the same time, you understand that the name is not the invention itself, and you are curious about what it is all about.

A full patent evaluation may take several hours or even days. If you have little time, this is an indecently quick way to find out what a patent is in less than one minute.
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Step 1: Skip Header

The title of the description of the invention, if the author wants it, can be quite general, as, for example, in the person who patented this tool . In many cases, this is a description of what will be improved, rather than a new invention. A patent called Virtual Desktop Manager is a patent not for virtual desktops, but for a certain set of functions offered when implementing management of a specific virtual desktop.

Step 2: skip the illustrations

The illustrations for the description of the invention are for the most part similar to the scrawl on the student’s notebook — apart from the fact that they cost 5,000 dollars. Such images give only an indirect idea of ​​the use of the patent, and it is usually impossible to read them. There are single exceptions: for example, an incredibly informative scheme . Drawings may look like a giant gammy bear (because an invention is actually a giant gummy bear).



And sometimes it’s better to see once than hear a hundred times (especially if the figure shows the inventor himself, someone Edward L. Van Halen), demonstrating how to properly use his invention.

Step 3: skip abstract

In other areas, the abstract is your best assistant: a brief, clear statement of the main points of the document. At best, a patent abstract is hard to read because of its incoherence, and at worst, it deliberately misleads the reader. You think you have protected yourself, do what you planned, and then sue you, because the abstract has nothing to do with the use of the patent.

Step 4: skip the description of the invention (detailed descriptoin)

So we finally got to the essence of the patent! And it is also not worth reading. You are not interested in either the background of the invention or the field of technology to which it relates. Also, you are not particularly interested in the materials used in the examination of the application. In the summary of the essence of the invention, the most important is not written, and the description of the drawings, as a rule, is unintelligible (except, perhaps, the description of the invention of Edward L.). And from the detailed description you will quickly fall into a stupor and you will not be able to separate the really new and invented from what everyone already knows.

Step 5: we find independent claims and read them

These clauses are the only part of the patent that has valid claim. Although reading them is also not easy, they should be expressed in one sentence and, at least, relatively short (with the exception of some long sentences on half a page). A detailed analysis of this part can be terribly difficult, but a quick look will direct you along the right path. An explanatory guide to action can also be found here .

Step 6: Skip the dependent claims (dependent claims)

Any item that begins with the words “The _____ of claim _____” is, in fact, a clarification or statement of the details of the original item. And if you offend a child, you offend his parents too. Therefore, skipping.

That's all!

Being embroiled in a patent dispute does not bode well for the entrepreneur. By the time this is over, you will be able to quote from memory 40 pages of patent zaumi and learn to distinguish Markush from the claims of Jeppson. But if all you need is to quickly get brief information, go directly to the independent items. This will take you no more than a minute.

Many thanks to Adam Phillip of Aeon Law (whom I seek advice and recommend with pleasure) for checking out this article. Many thanks to Tom Huseby, who showed me this tricky trick.

By the way: how does the patent office treat your patent
In most cases, about the same. First, they read the independent claims, then look at the illustrations, and only then, if some term or concept is not clear, they proceed to the description of the invention. If you have more than one minute, it will not hurt you to follow their example.

Translated by ABBYY Language Services