Legal English- Patents Vocabulary and Discussion

Patents Vocabulary and Discussion
Legal English/ Technical English/ collocations/ word formation

Part One: Discuss and remember the patents vocabulary parts of speech
Choose topics below and talk about them as long as you can. Your partner will ask you for
further details and/ or add to what you said. A dash (–) means opposite ideas.

1

intellectual property

2

patent law/ patent act

3

types of patent (business method patents, chemical patents, patent protection for
pharmaceutical inventions, patenting of genes, software patents)

4

filing a patent application (request, specification, claims, drawings, abstract)

5

patentability/ conditions for granting a patent (patentable subject matter/ novelty/ utility/
inventive step/ non-obviousness/ industrial applicability) – decision to refuse a patent/
refusal of a patent (publicly known/ publicly used/ described in a distributed publica-
tion/ made publicly available through electronic telecommunication/ obvious modifica-
tions of previous inventions)

6

first-to-file principle/ first-to-file system – first-to-invent system

7

prior art (= evidence that can be used to demonstrate what inventions have been in-
vented before)

8

one-year “grace” period for filing inventions (= inventors can use the application in pub-
lic, and even sell it commercially, for one year without filing a patent application,
without losing patent rights)

9

patent prosecution (= procedures for obtaining a patent right)

10 certificate of patent
11 exclusive rights
12 term of patent/ term of protection (e.g. 20 years from the filing date)
13 patent licensing
14 patent enforcement/ patent infringement (litigation)
15 patent amendments
16 patent disclosure/ publication of patent application
17 invalidation of a patent
18 harmonization of patentability standards (European Patent Office, the Patent Coopera-

tion Treaty [PCT] signatory countries, the World Trade Organization’s Trade Related
Intellectual Property Rights [TRIPS] agreement)

Ask about any topics above which you are not sure about.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

All the words below are correct in English but many of them are in the wrong type of word
(noun, verb, etc) for the context that they are in. Try to remember or think of the suitable
other parts of speech in those phrases.

1

intellect property

2

types of patent (business method patents, chemistry patents, patent protect for phar-
maceutical inventions, patenting of genetic, software patents)

3

filing a patent apply (request, specify, claims, drawings, abstract)

4

patentability/ conditional for granting a patent (patentability subject matter/ novelty/ util-
ity/ invention step/ non-obviousness/ industry applicability) – decision to refuse a pat-
ent/ refuse of a patent (public known/ publicly used/ described in a distributed publish/
made publicly availability through electronic telecommunication/ obvious modify of pre-
vious inventions)

5

first-to-file principle/ first-to-file system – first-to-invention system

6

priority art (= evidence that can be used to demonstrate what inventions have been in-
vented before)

7

one-year “grace” periodic for filing inventions (= inventors can use the application in
public, and even sell it commercially, for one year without filing a patent application,
without losing patent rights)

8

patent prosecute (= procedures for obtaining a patent right)

9

certificated of patent

10 exclusively rights
11 term of patent/ term of protect (e.g. 20 years from the filing date)
12 patent licensed
13 patent enforcement/ patent infringe (litigation)
14 patent amend
15 patent disclose/ publication of patent application
16 invalid of a patent
17 harmonize of patentability standards (European Patent Office, the Patent Cooperation

Treaty [PCT] signatory countries, the World Trade Organization’s Trade Related Intel-
lectual Property Rights [TRIPS] agreement)

Use the version below with words that need to be changed in bold to help check your
answers.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

1

intellect property

2

types of patent (business method patents, chemistry patents, patent protect for phar-
maceutical inventions, patenting of genetic, software patents)

3

filing a patent apply (request, specify, claims, drawings, abstract)

4

patentability/ conditional for granting a patent (patentability subject matter/ novelty/
utility/ invention step/ non-obviousness/ industry applicability) – decision to refuse a
patent/ refuse of a patent (public known/ publicly used/ described in a distributed pub-
lish/ made publicly availability through electronic telecommunication/ obvious modify
of previous inventions)

5

first-to-file principle/ first-to-file system – first-to-invention system

6

priority art (= evidence that can be used to demonstrate what inventions have been
invented before)

7

one-year “grace” periodic for filing inventions (= inventors can use the application in
public, and even sell it commercially, for one year without filing a patent application,
without losing patent rights)

8

patent prosecute (= procedures for obtaining a patent right)

9

certificated of patent

10 exclusively rights
11 term of patent/ term of protect (e.g. 20 years from the filing date)
12 patent licensed
13 patent enforcement/ patent infringe (litigation)
14 patent amend
15 patent disclose/ publication of patent application
16 invalid of a patent
17 harmonize of patentability standards (European Patent Office, the Patent Cooperation

Treaty [PCT] signatory countries, the World Trade Organization’s Trade Related Intel-
lectual Property Rights [TRIPS] agreement)

Check your answers with the original page.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

Part Two: Patents discussion questions



How important is intellectual property? Is it becoming more important?



Has IP been in the news recently? What were the stories about?



What particular issues are there related to patenting of genes?

Changes to patent law


Are there any problems with the present patent law in your country? Does the govern-
ment have any plans to change it? What do you think about those changes?



What could “the best intellectual property system in the world” that the Japanese Min-
ister of Economy, Trade and Industry recently said that he wants his country to have
be like?



What problems are caused by a slow patent system? What can be done to make filing
a patent application faster and easier?



What advantages could a country with the best patent system have?



How do you feel about the idea of patenting colours and sounds?



What are the arguments for a one-year “grace” period for filing inventions? (= inventors
can use the application in public, and even sell it commercially, for one year without fil -
ing a patent application, without losing patent rights)



What is the term of patent protection in your country? What are the arguments for and
against lengthening or shortening it? How about when it comes to pharmaceuticals?



Is there are period before patent disclosure/ publication of patent application in your
country? What are the reasons for this? Are there any arguments for making it shorter
or longer?



What can be done about patent trolls?



Should patent infringement be a criminal offense (rather than a civil offense)?

International patent law


How do patent laws vary by country?



What can governments do to help companies whose patents are infringed abroad, e.g.
in developing countries?



Is it fair to expect strong patent protection in developing countries?



Is it possible for developing countries to become developed countries without breaking
patents?



Are developed countries which developed through copying of foreign products hypo-
critical in now asking developing countries not to do the same thing?



Why is standardising international patent law important? Is it more important than in
the past? Why?



Why is it difficult to harmonise patentability standards? What disagreements to coun-
tries have?



What are the advantages and disadvantages of first-to-file and first-to-invent patent
systems?



What position does your country and large companies from your country have in the
ranking of numbers of patent application? Is that changing?

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014