A patent is enforceable as it is granted. According to the new research, almost 90% of the patents issued by USPTO contain at least one mistake.

It is crucial for assignees to proofread patents to identify all the PTO/applicant errors in a patent and ensure that these errors are not detrimental to patent's enforceability. Proofreading is an important last step in the process of obtaining a patent. The errors can be of any type minor or major and in any section i.e. Face Page, Drawings, Specification and Claims. Patent claims are determinative of patent value as it defines the scope of the invention. It is very important to catch all the errors in the defective issued patent, which if left uncorrected, can lead to major risks. It not only affects the quality of the issued patent but there are numerous examples of missing proofreading quality controls that have resulted in disastrous damages. Therefore, many hours must be spent fastidiously reviewing or proofreading Issued Patents.

Types of Mistakes:

Errors in patents are of two types:

  • PTO (Patent Office) Errors: These are the kinds of errors that are induced by the Patent Offices and are identified by a detailed comparison of the File Wrapper with the Issued Patent.
  • Client Errors: These are applicant induced errors which can creep into a patent during drafting and/or prosecution stage, for example, grammatical, spelling, punctuation, duplicity of paragraphs, wrong referral numerals which may be not visible at the time of electronic comparison.

Our Comprehensive Proofreading Process:

Our well-versed staff and experienced professionals can provide you patent proofreading service to identify all the errors and omissions which are being made before they become an issue. The process of our Proofreading takes into account all the office actions, amendments and other changes made to the application post filing. Our team members run thorough manual as well as automated checks simultaneously to ensure that a patent is free of any errors. The three stages of quality control and quality assurance processes and methodologies leverage our deep industry experience and will provide the highest quality and the most cost-effective patent proofreading services.

Some of the startup steps followed by our team are as follows:

  • Compare the issued patent's front page (Bibliographic information) with the prosecution history (File Wrapper). Checking of each and every page of browsing history to assure that the information incorporated in the issued patent are latest.
  • To ensure that the correct latest drawings appear in the Issued Patent, all the replacement sheets are treated as final.
  • A Comparison of each paragraph of the 'Specification as issued' and the 'Specification as filed', to confirm that all Specification Amendments during prosecution are included in the issued patent.
  • Comparison of issued patent claims with the latest claims and examiner's amendments. Checking the incorporation of every claim according to the renumbering presented in the prosecution history.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.