Elements of a Patent

• A patent is a complex document that details information about a concept or invention. Patents all follow the same format, which is quite specific in nature and most information cannot be left out in order for a patent to be considered complete. Patents can only be issued for concepts and ideas that offer utility and novelty and that are nonobvious in nature. There are three types of patents: utility patents, design patents and plant patents.
  
  

Header

• The header of a patent contains "United States Patent," the patent number and the date of the patent. The patent number and its date are designed to identify the patent as being a unique document. The patent number is issued on a sequential basis. The date on this document is the date that the patent became enforceable, and the date of issuance is always on a Tuesday.
  
  

Introduction Information

• The introduction information of a patent includes the title of the invention, the inventor and the assignee, the application number, the date filed, U.S. patent classification numbers and field of search. This information must be exact in order for the patent to be effective. Assignees are individuals that the rights to the patent belong to, aside from the original inventor. Classifications are required on the original patent document but may change over time.
  
  

References and Abstract

• If any other patents or pieces of art are closely related to the patent's invention, they should be included in the references cited section. The abstract of a patent is a single paragraph description that details all of the main features of the invention that is being outlined in the patent document. This information is used to sum up the invention's basic idea, which will be detailed more fully in the document's next few pages.
  
  

Representative Drawings

• Although it is not required, most patents will include drawings that are used to clarify all of the information that is described in the pages of the patent. One drawing is typically placed on the first page of the patent to sum up the remainder of the drawings, though additional drawings can be placed on subsequent pages. Include drawings any time they can clarify the invention's ideas.
  
  

Background and Summary

• Subsequent pages of the patent document should detail the background of the invention and a brief summary of how it works. The brief summary should use greater detail than the abstract on the first page of the document. The background of the invention should touch on why it matters, what issue it solves and how it is improved in comparison to other similar inventions.
  
  

Detailed Description

• The detailed description section of the patent should describe the invention completely so that anyone with basic skills in the invention's technical field can reasonably reproduce it. This section of the patent document may refer to the detailed drawings and other information in the document for support.
  
  

Claims

• The claims section is the very last section in the patent document. This section describes what is new or unique about the invention without requiring all of the detail necessary in previous sections such as how to make the invention or how to get it to work. The patent's ability to enforce patent rights rests on the information claimed in this final section of the document.