Patent application

To my humble opinion, a patent application is not just a text, but the whole request and the subsequent process before the patent is granted (including the examination). This is why I merged the article "patent examination" in it. Hope nobody objects. --Edcolins 19:09, Jan 16, 2005 (UTC)

Merge looks good, but I view "application" as a set of documents (and requisite fees) which grows and changes during "patent prosecution", whereas the "examination" (and everything else that may possibly result from further handling by the parties) is part of the process of molding the application itself into one or more patents (or not). Just my $0.02 USD. Lupinelawyer 22:14, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Maybe there is a difference in the way the expression "patent application" is construed in Europe and in the States. In Europe, and in particular in the European Patent Convention, a European patent application can be withdrawn, deemed to be withdrawn, or refused... These expressions would make no sense to me (or at least they would be weird) if the patent application was only a set of documents. A patent application must contain a certain number of documents, but I would say the application is more than that, it is a legal right, that can be assigned, and so on. Are you convinced?
We could explain this in the article btw. --Edcolins 20:03, Jan 18, 2005 (UTC)
I think patent application is used in a number of senses - the process of applying, the entity that becomes a patent when it is granted, or the patent specification itself. I think the distinction is probably not that significant, provided it is clearly explained. I am going to attempt to merge Patent prosecution into Patent application as the two currently contain hugely overlapping material, and are somewhat unclear at the moment. Kcordina Talk 14:44, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

I have created a temp page that I'm using to develop a new version of the article - Patent application/temp. Kcordina Talk 08:14, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

I deleted business method patent as a type of patent application since it's not one of the statutory patents types at least in the US. A business method patent is a utility patent and has the same requirements for patentability. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nowa (talkcontribs)

Line structure

Does this line make sense:

The search report is published, generally with the application 18 months after the priority date with the application, and as such is a public document.

--ReluctantPhilosopher (talk) 09:31, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for your note. I have reworded the paragraph to correct the weird sentence and to make the overall paragraph clearer. Cheers. --Edcolins (talk) 19:33, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
Thanks for your edit. Also thanks for all your (considerable) contributions to Intellectual Property/Patent related topics. I've recently switched to this industry from Software development and I'm finding the articles immensely helpful. Cheers! ReluctantPhilosopher (talk) 07:18, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
You're welcome! And thanks to you as well. Feedback is immensely useful! --Edcolins (talk) 18:55, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Costs of EPO Patents

It would improve the article considerably if there would be some broader comparison (maybe table) between patent applications in different regions. A starting point could be this article at the EPO. An important point of comparison should be costs. How much does it cost to file a patent with USPTO and EPO? Ben T/C 16:52, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Proposed merge of Backlog of unexamined patent applications

It seems to me that the logical place to discuss the Backlog of unexamined patent applications is in this article, not in its own article. - dcljr (talk) 19:32, 21 June 2011 (UTC)