Simple English definitions for legal terms
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Notice of Allowability: A notice from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that tells you your patent application has been approved. This means that the claims you made in your application have been found to be valid. The notice may also include some changes that the examiner made to your application. If your application is still under a secrecy order, you may still receive this notice.
A notice of allowability is a notification from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that the claims in a patent application have been approved on their merits. This means that the patent application has met all the requirements for patentability and the claims are considered valid.
For example, if someone invents a new type of phone case and files a patent application, they will receive a notice of allowability if the patent examiner determines that the invention is novel, non-obvious, and useful. This notice indicates that the patent will be granted once the applicant pays the required fees and completes any necessary paperwork.
It's important to note that a notice of allowability may also be issued if the claims are allowable but the application is under a secrecy order. In this case, the applicant may not be able to disclose the details of their invention until the secrecy order is lifted.
The notice of allowability may also include examiner's amendments incorporating some formal changes. This means that the examiner may have made some minor changes to the language or structure of the claims to make them clearer or more precise.