This Handbook has been updated for 2012 as the U.S. Patent Office keeps changing their rules. The purpose of this Patent Professional's Handbook is to be a handy, ready reference guide for administrative staff, paralegals, support professionals in patent law firms and IP departments. As a reference guide, it is hoped that this will reduce the amount of instruction time a Registered Patent Practitioner or Patent Agent must spend with his/her staff. The arrangement of the topics facilitates thorough initial patent filings through issuance and maintenance. Many useful features include tables, diagrams, charts, glossary, key terms, and examples to illustrate the points made in this Handbook.

The purpose of this Patent Professional's Handbook is to be a handy, ready reference guide for administrative staff, paralegals, support professionals in patent law firms and IP departments. As a reference guide, it is hoped that this will reduce the amount of instruction time a Registered Patent Practitioner or Patent Agent must spend with his/her staff. The arrangement of the topics facilitates thorough initial patent filings through issuance and maintenance. Many useful features include tables, diagrams, charts, glossary, key terms, and examples to illustrate the points made in this Handbook.

The Handbook contains 24 chapters and is arranged and indexed logically so that you can quickly access the information. The Handbook starts with an explanation of patent basics and moves onto explain how to do business electronically with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). Sections on establishing user accounts and accessing the PTO's patent information website include numerous screen images to help the reader understand how to navigate the PTO website. The Handbook includes a section for each step in the patent process from preparing a patent application, to filing and advancing the application through the PTO to issue as a patent. The Handbook has numerous checklists that will serve as an invaluable aid to novices and a reinforcement of best practices for more experienced staff. This Handbook has been updated to include the most recent provisions of the America Invents Act and the Patent Law Treaty. Also, this Handbook is very useful for those who want to learn the basics and dynamics of the Intellectual Property field and expand their horizons into a very good-paying position!

This benchmark resource takes the guesswork and risk out of preparing patent applications by taking you step by step through the entire process. Equally useful to both veteran and novice patent attorneys, How to Write a Patent Application explains, analyzes, and illustrates all the essential principles and techniques of drafting solid patent applications. Designed to give you complete guidance for every step in the process, How to Write a Patent Application shows you how to: Obtain the information you need from inventors, Prepare information disclosure statements, Explain inventions so judges and juries will be impressed by their value, Write patent applications that survive litigation and licensing negotiations, Satisfy the "best mode" requirement. Prepare U.S. applications for foreign filings.

This Handbook has been updated to be aligned with the America Invents Act of 2011. The purpose of this Patent Professional's Handbook is to be a handy, ready reference guide for administrative staff, paralegals, support professionals in patent law firms and IP departments. As a reference guide, it is hoped that this will reduce the amount of instruction time a Registered Patent Practitioner or Patent Agent must spend with his/her staff. The arrangement of the topics facilitates thorough initial patent filings through issuance and maintenance. Many useful features include tables, diagrams, charts, glossary, key terms, and examples to illustrate the points made in this Handbook.

Whether you're a patent examiner, patent attorney, commercial patent searcher, patent liaison, IP librarian, law professor, or competitive intelligence analyst, you'll find Patent Searching: Tools and Techniques to be just the guide you have been waiting for, with a range of approaches to patent searching that will be useful to you regardless of your technical expertise or role in the intellectual property community.