How to Invent and Protect Your Invention: A Guide to Patents for Scientists and Engineers

5.6 THE STRUCTURE OF THE PATENT DOCUMENT

This section will acquaint you with the parts of today's patent. While the form of patents underwent a lot of changes over the years, currently we distinguish three major parts: (a) the cover sheet, (b) the specification, and (c) the claims.

5.6.1 The Cover Sheet

The cover sheet (or first page) of a contemporary patent contains a great deal of information: some essential to technical people, some of significance only to patent professionals. We will discuss the former and only touch upon the latter.

Figure 5.7 The cover sheet of a patent.

Figure 5.7 shows the cover sheet of a representative patent. The information on the top (above the horizontal solid line) is intended to identify the patent. The mysterious numbers in brackets are called INID Codes (Internationally agreed Numbers for the Identification of Data), which convey information that can be understood by patent offices in countries throughout the world. For example, the [19] in front of United States Patent shows that the United States is the issuing country. For the most part, these bracketed numbers are the PTO equivalent of the “For Office Use” only sections on forms, to which we have all become so accustomed. The first entry under the horizontal line is the title of the patent [54], and underneath are the names and residences of the inventors [75]. Under this is listed the ...