Patent clerk
From Free net encyclopedia
A patent clerk or patent examiner is an employee, usually a civil servant, working within a patent office and whose work is to examine patent applications as to whether they deserve a patent. The work of patent clerks usually includes searching patent and scientific literature databases for prior art, and substantively examining patent applications, that is examining whether the claimed invention meets the patentability requirements such as novelty, "inventive step" or "non-obviousness", "industrial application" (or "utility") and sufficiency of disclosure.
Major employers of patent clerks are the European Patent Office, the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the Japan Patent Office. In the United States those who examine patent applications are called "patent examiners."
Notable patent clerks
- Genrich Altshuller
- Albert Einstein, who worked for a couple of years at the Swiss Patent Office
- Thomas P. Jones, engineer and publisher
- Richard Bissell Prosser
- Johan Vaaler