711.06 Abstracts, Abbreviatures, and Defensive Publications [R-10.2019]
Abstracts were prepared and published in accordance with the Notice of January 25, 1949, 619 OG 258. Each abstract includes a summary of the disclosure of the abandoned application, and in applications having drawings, a figure of the drawing. The publication of such abstracts was discontinued in 1953.
II. ABBREVIATURES
Abbreviatures were prepared and published in accordance with the procedure indicated in the Notice of October 13, 1964, 808 OG 1. Each abbreviature contains a specific portion of the disclosure of the abandoned application, preferably a detailed representative claim, and, in applications having drawings, a figure of the drawing. The publication of such abbreviatures was discontinued in 1965.
III. DEFENSIVE PUBLICATIONS
The Defensive Publication Program, which provided for the publication of the abstract of the technical disclosure of a pending application if the applicant waived his or her rights to an enforceable patent, was available between April 1968 and May 8, 1985. The program was ended in view of the applicant’s ability to obtain a Statutory Invention Registration.
An application was laid open for public inspection under the Defensive Publication Program and the applicant provisionally abandoned the application, retaining rights to an interference for a limited period of 5 years from the earliest effective U.S. filing date.
The Defensive Publication Abstract and a selected figure of the drawing, if any, were published in the Official Gazette. Defensive Publication Search Copies, containing the defensive publication abstract and suitable drawings, if any, were provided for the application file, the Patent Search Room and the examiner’s search files. A defensive publication is not a patent or an application publication under 35 U.S.C. 122(b); it is a publication. Therefore, it is prior art only as of its publication date.
The defensive publication application files are accessible by request to the File Information Unit (Record Room).
Defensive Publication Number
Distinct numbers are assigned to all Defensive Publications published December 16, 1969 through October 1980, for example.
For Defensive Publications published on and after November 4, 1980, a different numbering system is used.
The revised numbering system is as follows:
Defensive Publications are included in subclass lists and subscription orders. The distinct numbers are used for all official reference and document copy requirements.
A conversion table from the application serial number to the distinct number for all Defensive Publications published before December 16, 1969 appears at 869 OG 687.