Prosecution of a Patent
"Patent prosecution" refers to the U.S. Patent Office's procedure of examining a patent application. Before prosecution, the application draft must have the necessary signature documents from the Patent Office. The process typically takes two to three years, depending on the nature of the patent.
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Office Action
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A submitted application is given to an official examiner who reviews the draft and checks its compliance with Patent Office rules and statutes. After this review an "office action" is sent to the applicant, and it generally contains statutory rejections of a few or all the application's claims. A patent attorney then helps the applicant create an "office response" that tries to correct the application's shortcomings. This process is repeated as many times as necessary.
Rejection
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An examiner has the right to issue a final rejection to an application. When this happens, an applicant has the right to file for an appeal to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. If this appeal is also rejected, or if an appeal is not sought after, the application will be abandoned and the patent prosecution ends.
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Acceptance
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If a patent is successful during its examination, it is deemed as allowed and the applicant is invited to pay its issue fee. After payment, the patent is officially issued and the prosecution ends.
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