Under United States patent law, a continuing patent application is a patent application which follows, and claims priority to, an earlier filed patent application.
A continuing patent application may be one of three types: a continuation, divisional, or continuation-in-part application. While continuation and continuation-in-part applications are generally available in the U.S. only, divisional patent applications are also available in other countries, as such availability is required under Article 4G of the Paris Convention.
Read more about Continuing Patent Application: Early History, Current Law in The U.S., Controversy Around Attempted Changes By USPTO To Continuation Practice
Famous quotes containing the words continuing, patent and/or application:
“I would define the poetic effect as the capacity that a text displays for continuing to generate different readings, without ever being completely consumed.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)
“The cigar-box which the European calls a “lift” needs but to be compared with our elevators to be appreciated. The lift stops to reflect between floors. That is all right in a hearse, but not in elevators. The American elevator acts like the man’s patent purge—it works”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“There are very few things impossible in themselves; and we do not want means to conquer difficulties so much as application and resolution in the use of means.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)