Purpose of this Booklet
The purpose of this booklet is to give users some general information about patents and the operations of the Patent and Trademark Office. It attempts to answer many of the questions commonly asked of the Patent and Trademark Office but is not intended to be a comprehensive textbook on patent law or a guide for the patent attorney. It is hoped that this information will be useful to inventors and prospective applicants for patents, to students, and to others who may be interested in patents by giving them a brief general introduction to the subject.
Additional information may be obtained from the publications listed under the sections “Publications of the Patent and Trademark Office” and “General information and correspondence.” Also, information is available on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Web site at:http://www.uspto.gov. The Patent and Trademark Office does not publish any textbooks on patent law, but a number of such works for the specialist and for the general reader have been published by private concerns.