U.S. Patent Attorneys in New Jersey & New York
New York City: 212-316-0381 New Jersey: 973-685-5280 WhatsApp: Click Here to Call E-Mail: firm@patentlawny.com

Patent Guide: V. Information Disclosure Statement

The United States (and formerly, Australia) has a very strict requirement to disclose just about anything relevant to examining your patent application. If you don't disclose, you might end up with an unenforcable patent! It's pretty seriious. The disclosures are made in "Information Disclosure Statements" or "IDSs".

At our law firm, every three to four months, we have "IDS Day" where we go through all the patent applications we've filed since our last "IDS Day". It lists all references in four categories - U.S. Patents, U.S. Patent Publications (unissued patent applications that have been published), Foreign Patents, and Non-Patent Literature.

We use our own forms. Here's an excerpted part of what one looks like, after we put in our legal certification:

U.S. Patents

Examiner Initials
Patent Number
Title
Issue Date
Inventors
 
6807911
Pallet with stress resistant structure
October 26, 2004
Carson; Craig (Kildeer, IL), Bendit; Mark (Avon, IN), Turley; Steven (Plainfield, IN)
 
7607268
False walls consisting of stretched fabric and joined by an inclined separating ribband
October 27, 2009
Scherrer; Jean-Marc (Riedisheim, FR), Scherrer; Jean-Paul (Mulhouse, FR)
 
7644666
Pallet
January 12, 2010
Smyers; Justin M. (San Luis Obispo, CA)
 
...
...
...
...

U.S. Patent Application Publications

Examiner Initials
Patent Number
Title
(Publication Date)
Inventors
 
20050034268
Heavy duty molded equipment slide
(February 17, 2005)
Wurdack, Roy A.; (Ooltewah, TN)
 
20070234507
Fungible furniture glide
(October 11, 2007)
Vorpahl; Steven A.; (Concord, CA)

Next, in four to fifty months, an Examiner looks at your application! Let's move on to what happens if they think you are claiming two inventions. This is called a VI. Restriction Requirement.

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