Reading a Patent Document Like a Pro: How To Quickly Grasp A General Understanding of What A Patent Document Covers

Utility patents are legal documents that can be very verbose and dense. For an untrained person, reading a utility patent to gain a general understanding of what the patent covers may be a daunting task. However, understanding the distinct parts of a patent can greatly assist in reading utility patents.

As a patent attorney with over a decade of experience in patent law, I can share that when I first look at a patent to understand its coverage and enforceability, I do not read the entire document. To get a general understanding, I follow a very particular order, which I will explain further below.

Before analyzing a patent, it’s essential to understand the goal of reading it. Am I analyzing the patent to determine if a particular service or device is potentially infringing on the patent’s claims? Am I examining the patent to assess if it could affect an inventor’s ability to obtain another patent? Or am I seeking a general understanding of what this patent covers? How I answer these questions will determine how I proceed with the analysis.

For this article, I will limit my explanation to how I analyze a patent to understand what a utility patent covers. It’s important to note that the patent document number can be very helpful in understanding what the patent covers.

In the United States, design patent numbers begin with a letter “D” (such as D111,111) and protect the ornamental features of a design. A plant patent begins with “PP” (such as PP12345) and protects a sexually reproduced new and distinct variety of plants. For utility patents, there are two types – a patent application publication and an issued patent. A patent application publication is typically published 18 months after the patent application is filed and assigned a number that begins with “US” followed by a year indicator and a serial number, formatted as US 2002/0123456 A1, where “A1” typically indicates a published patent application. Granted patents are numbered sequentially, without the year or slash, and formatted as US 9,123,456 B2, with “B2” indicating a granted patent. It is crucial to understand that a utility patent application publication does not necessarily mean that the disclosed technology is granted a patent. Further investigation is required.

To gain a general understanding of what a utility patent covers, the first step is to look at the title, which provides a brief glimpse into the content of the patent.

Next, read the Abstract, which is a summary found at the beginning of the patent document. It provides an overview of the invention and its technical field, helping readers quickly ascertain the nature and essence of the technical disclosure. However, it’s important to note that an abstract may not fully encompass the scope of what the patent protects.

Subsequently, I read the “claims,” the most crucial part of a utility patent application. The claims define the legal boundaries of the patent’s protection, critical for assessing its strength, scope, and potential infringement issues. Interestingly, in the United States, the claims are found at the end of the application and typically do not have a bolded heading but start with phrases like “We claim,” “I claim,” or “What is claimed is.”

After reading the claims, if I have questions about the meaning of a term used in the claims, I will consult the “Detailed Description” for a better understanding. The Detailed Description offers an in-depth disclosure of the invention and may refer to certain figures or drawings.