Legal Definitions - information-disclosure statement

An Information-Disclosure Statement (IDS) is a crucial document submitted during the patent application process.

It serves as a formal declaration by an inventor or their legal representative, disclosing all known "prior art" that is relevant to the invention for which a patent is being sought. Prior art includes any existing knowledge, inventions, publications, or public uses that might suggest the invention is not entirely new or obvious. The purpose of the IDS is to assist the patent examiner in making an informed decision about the patentability of the invention by ensuring they are aware of all potentially relevant existing information. Failing to disclose known prior art can have serious consequences for the validity of an issued patent.

• Example 1: Software Development

  Imagine a software engineer develops a groundbreaking new algorithm for optimizing data compression. Before filing a patent application, they conduct extensive research and discover a research paper published five years ago in an obscure academic journal. This paper describes a similar, though less efficient, approach to data compression. Even though the prior algorithm is not identical to their invention, the engineer must include this research paper in an Information-Disclosure Statement submitted to the patent office. This ensures the patent examiner is aware of the existing technology and can properly assess the novelty and inventiveness of the engineer's new algorithm.

• Example 2: Medical Device Innovation

  A team of inventors designs a novel surgical tool that significantly reduces recovery time for a specific procedure. During their development and patent preparation, they recall seeing an old, expired patent from a different country for a somewhat similar, but less precise, instrument used for a related medical purpose. Although the old patent is not directly for their exact tool or procedure, its existence is relevant prior art. The inventors are legally obligated to list this old patent in their Information-Disclosure Statement. This allows the patent examiner to compare the new invention against the existing technology and determine if the new tool offers a sufficiently distinct and non-obvious improvement to warrant a patent.

• Example 3: Consumer Product Design

  An entrepreneur invents a unique, collapsible water bottle with an integrated filtration system. While preparing their patent application, they remember a blog post from several years ago that showcased a prototype of a collapsible bottle (without filtration) and a separate, portable filtration device. Even though these were not combined in the same way as their invention, and the blog post isn't a formal patent, it represents publicly available information about similar concepts. To fulfill their duty of disclosure, the entrepreneur includes a reference to this blog post in their Information-Disclosure Statement. This demonstrates their good faith effort to provide all known relevant information to the patent office, allowing the examiner to consider the full landscape of existing designs.