Glossary

http://www.uspto.gov/main/glossary/

Term	Definition KEY =online business system =fees =forms=help =laws/regulations =definition (glossary)	Context   general   infotech   patent   trademark
AAU	amendment to allege use	t
ABA #	American Bankers Association number - often referred to as the "transit routing number", is the nine (9) digit electronic address of a financial institution. The ABAnumber is encoded in the MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) line of all checks, and is assigned to each financial institution and each branch office of that financial institution.	i
abandonment	A patent application becomes abandoned for failure to file a complete and proper reply as the condition of the application may require within the time period provided under 37 CFR § 1.134 and § 1.136 unless an Office action indicates otherwise. Abandonment may be either of the invention or of an application. An abandoned application, in accordance with 37 CFR §§ 1.135 and 1.138, is one which is removed from the Office docket of pending applications. -- see MPEP 711 for more -- see express abandonment	p
abandonment	A trademark application that has been declared abandoned is "dead" and no longer pending. Abandonment occurs under several circumstances. The most common reason is when the USPTO does not receive a response to an Office Action letter from an applicant within 6 months from the date the Office action letter was mailed. Another instance is when the USPTO does not receive a Statement of Use (or request for an extension of time to file a statement of use) from an applicant within 6 months from the issuance of a Notice of Allowance). Applications abandoned for failure to respond to an Office Action or a Notice of Allowance can be revived or reinstated in certain circumstances. For more information, see Petition to Revive and Request for Reinstatement.

record copy	original copy of an international application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty maintained by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization.	p
recordation form cover sheet	USPTO form that trademark owners use to record trademark assignments (changes in ownership of marks for applications and registrations) and a trademark owner’s change of entity name. The form is PTO-TM-1594. It may be submitted in hard copy to the following address: Mail Stop Assignment Recordation Services Director of the US Patent and Trademark Office PO Box 1450 Alexandria, VA 22313-1450 Locate the current fee schedule at How to Pay Fees to determine the current fee for assignment recordation (Trademark Services Fee Code 8521)	t
redacted publication	a patent application publication that omits material that was present in the specification or claims of the nonprovisional patent application filed in the USPTO.  See 37 CFR 1.217 and MPEP 1132 for more information.	p
reexamination proceeding	at any time during the enforceability of a patent any person may file a request for the USPTO to conduct a second examination of any claim of the patent on the basis of prior art patents or printed publications which that person states to be pertinent and applicable to the patent and believes to have a bearing on the patentability (see37 CFR 1.501). In order for the request for reexamination to be granted, a substantial new question of patentability must be present with regard to at least one patent claim. The request must be in writing and must be accompanied by payment of a reexamination request filing fee as set forth in 37 CFR 1.20(c). -- see 37 U.S.C. 302, MPEP 2209, et seq., for more	p
reference (prior art)	-- see MPEP 900 for information

prior art (reference)	See MPEP 900 for information	p
priority action	a letter in which an examining attorney sets forth specific requirements that the applicant must meet before an application can be approved for publication. An examining attorney will issue a priority action after consulting with an applicant or the applicant’s attorney. Unlike an examiner’s amendment, the priority action does not confirm resolution of the issues; instead, it explains the requirements still outstanding.The applicant must respond to a priority action within 6 months from the date the priority action is mailed. If the applicant fails to do so, the application will be abandoned. Please note that examining attorneys have no discretion to extend the time for filing a response to an Office action. The benefit of a priority action is that, if the applicant responds within 2 months, the application will be given priority in processing the response.	t
priority claim	claims under 35 USC 119(a)-(e) and 35 USC 120 for the benefit of the filing date of earlier filed applications.	p
Pro Se	used to designate an independent inventor who has elected to file an application by themselves without the services of a licensed representative.	p
provisional patent application	a provisional application for patent is a U. S. national application for patent filed in the USPTO under 35 U.S.C. § 111(b). It allows filing without a formal patent claim, oath or declaration, or any information disclosure (prior art) statement. It provides the means to establish an early effective filing date in a nonprovisional patent application filed under 35 U.S.C § 111(a) and automatically becomes abandoned after one year. It also allows the term "Patent Pending" to be applied. -- see Provisional Patent Application for more