The UK Patent Office teaches you how to understand public texts

The specification contains basic information about the applicant's first publication of a patent application, the so-called "A" publication. It explains the form of publication of the application, the additional information published at this stage, and its significance for future rights. The first publication text does not contain any information about the second or "B" publication that occurs after the patent is granted.

What does A publication mean?

• Public text means that the specification is available to the public, specialist libraries and other patent offices around the world. The specification will be published on the patent office online website and can be viewed and downloaded by the public free of charge. Therefore, at this stage, competitors can see all the details of the invention. Publication of the specification means that the applicant is applying for a patent and alerts the public through the claims that exclusive rights are sought. Patent applications that are not published will not be granted, and the only way to prevent publication is to withdraw the application before the patent office completes the publication preparation date. This publication date will be provided on the front page of the search report. A few days before this date, the UKIPO will notify the applicant of the exact date when the publication preparation work will be completed and provide the applicant with the publication number and publication date. By then, it is too late to prevent publication.
• The applicant's name and address will appear on the first page of the publication. Once published, these details will also appear in the UKIPO's records and in the online patent journal, both of which will be available to the public on the UKIPO's website and can be permanently searched using most standard search engines. If the applicant does not want his or her home address to be published, he or she may provide the UKIPO with an address other than his or her home address, a business address or a PO box address.

What was announced in the published text?

• Publication of “A” documents includes:
  1. Description of the invention as originally filed
  2. The drawings of the specification submitted with the patent application (possibly with amendments)
  3. The claims as originally filed or the last revised version of the claims received before publication
  4. The abstract of the specification on the first page (which may have been modified ex officio by the examiner), the abstract drawing, the bibliographical details and the list of documents cited in the search report
  5. Search Report
• In addition, all correspondence between the applicant and the UKIPO will be made available to the public in the "A" publication. Although not included in the "A" document, any member of the public who wishes to see it can make a request to inspect and copy it.

What is the reference code for the first page of the "A" file?

• The reference code is a standard code used by all member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), where:
  (11) Patent application publication number
  (12) File description
  (13) Public type
  (19) Country code
  (21) Application number
  (22) Application date
  (30) Priority information
  (31) Priority number
  (32) Priority date
  (33) Country of priority
  (43) Publication Date
  (51) IPC classification number and the IPC classification version used
  (54) Title of Invention
  (56) Prior art listed in the search report
  (57) Summary of the instructions
  (58) Comparison File List
  (71) Applicant
  (72) Inventor
  (74) Agent