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:
“Perhaps the best definition of progress would be the continuing efforts of men and women to narrow the gap between the convenience of the powers that be and the unwritten charter.”
—Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923)
“This is the patent age of new inventions
For killing bodies, and for saving souls,
All propagated with the best intentions.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“Great abilites are not requisite for an Historian; for in historical composition, all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent. He has facts ready to his hand; so there is no exercise of invention. Imagination is not required in any degree; only about as much as is used in the lowest kinds of poetry. Some penetration, accuracy, and colouring, will fit a man for the task, if he can give the application which is necessary.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)