Legal Definitions - reissue

The term "reissue" has two distinct meanings in a legal context:

• 1. Reissue (Abstractor's Certificate)

  In the context of real estate, an abstract of title is a historical summary of all recorded documents affecting the ownership of a particular piece of property, including deeds, mortgages, liens, and other legal actions. An abstractor is a professional who compiles and certifies these abstracts.

  A reissue, in this sense, is a new certification provided by an abstractor that attests to the accuracy and completeness of an abstract of title, especially when the abstract has been updated, extended, or compiled from multiple older documents. It confirms that the entire, current abstract accurately reflects the property's ownership history up to a specified date.

  • Example 1: Property Sale

    A homeowner decides to sell a property they've owned for 30 years. When they originally purchased the home, an abstract of title was created. For the current sale, the buyer's lender requires an updated abstract. The abstractor takes the original 30-year-old abstract, researches all property transactions and filings from the last three decades, and adds this new information to the existing document. The abstractor then provides a reissue certificate, confirming that the entire, now-updated abstract accurately reflects the property's title history up to the present day for the new buyer.

  • Example 2: Commercial Development

    A real estate developer plans to build a shopping center on a large parcel of land that was previously made up of five smaller, individually owned lots. Each of these smaller lots had its own abstract of title. To get a comprehensive overview of the entire development site, the developer commissions an abstractor to consolidate all five individual abstracts into one master abstract. The abstractor would then provide a reissue certificate for this newly compiled and unified abstract, verifying the accuracy of the combined historical record for the entire property.

  • Example 3: Refinancing a Mortgage

    A business owner is refinancing a mortgage on their commercial building. The bank providing the new loan requires an updated abstract of title, as the existing one is 20 years old. The abstractor reviews the original abstract, researches all relevant records from the past two decades, and appends this new information to the existing document. The abstractor then issues a reissue certificate, assuring the bank that the complete abstract, including both the original and the recent additions, is a correct and current summary of the property's title.

• 2. Reissue Patent

  A reissue patent is a corrected version of an existing patent. After a patent has been granted, an inventor or patent owner may discover errors in the patent's claims, specification (the detailed description of the invention), or drawings, or realize that the patent does not fully cover their invention as originally intended. Instead of abandoning the original patent, they can apply to the patent office for a reissue patent to correct these mistakes or to broaden or narrow the scope of the original patent's claims, provided no new subject matter is introduced.

  • Example 1: Correcting a Claim

    An inventor receives a patent for a unique water filtration system. Later, while reviewing the patent, their attorney realizes that one of the patent's claims was inadvertently worded too narrowly, failing to fully protect a key innovative aspect of the system that was clearly described in the original patent application. To rectify this, the inventor applies for a reissue patent to correct the wording of that specific claim, ensuring the patent accurately reflects the intended scope of protection for their invention.

  • Example 2: Fixing a Clerical Error

    A technology company holds a patent for a novel data compression algorithm. During a routine audit, they discover a minor clerical error in the patent's specification—a numerical value in a formula was mistyped, which could potentially lead to misinterpretation of the algorithm's function. To prevent future confusion or legal challenges, the company applies for a reissue patent solely to correct this typographical error, without altering the fundamental invention.

  • Example 3: Broadening Protection

    A small manufacturing company obtains a patent for a new type of durable adhesive. After the patent is granted, they realize that their original patent claims were too restrictive and did not fully cover all the different ways their adhesive could be applied, even though these applications were described in the patent's detailed specification. To secure broader protection for their invention, the company applies for a reissue patent to expand the scope of their claims to encompass these additional applications, as long as the changes are based on the original disclosure.