Selling an invention to a patent examiner
By David J. French
One of the most critical jobs of a patent attorney is to convince a patent examiner to grant patent rights to your client. This means convincing the examiner that your client is entitled to exclusive rights over a described version of the invention that, while being of the widest scope possible, will meet the novelty requirements of the patent law. The key requirement is that you have to define the invention in language that does not describe anything that was previously available to the public. But you also want to use language that will shut-down competitors without leaving any loopholes. Not an easy job.
