The process of listing all the prior arts whether they are published or granted, scientific literature or publications or any other information regardless of their territorial jurisdiction (that is US or Non US) is the Information Disclosure Statement (IDS). The applicant is obliged to publish the state of the art when filling out the application or during the processing of the application.
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) is a matter of legal practice to submit all relevant prior art references (published or granted patents (US or Foreign), scientific literature or publications) to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
THERE ARE MANY STAGES DURING PROSECUTION WHEN THE IDS COULD BE FILED BY AN APPLICANT :
• At the time of filing an application or within a certain time (3 months) from the actual filing date or before the issuance of first office action
• Before mailing a final office action, a notice of allowance or an action that closes prosecution of the application such as an Ex parte Quayle office action.
• Before the payment of issue fee, and
• After payment of an issue fee but before issuance
IN ADDITION TO THE IDS FORM, THE USPTO MAY REQUIRE A QUALIFIED COPY OF:
(i) Each foreign patent
(ii) Any publication or that part which caused it to be listed, except for US patents and published US patent applications, unless required by the Office;
(iii) For each cited unpublished US application, the specification of the application, including the claims, and any drawing of the application or that part of the application which caused it to be cited, including any claims directed to that part; and
(iv) All or part of the other information for which it is provided.
WHY YOU SHOULD GO FOR IDS PREPARATION ?
1. For processing a large number of applications.
2. For managing a large family and cross-citations.
3. To manage references populated from corresponding foreign applications in the family.
4. For compliance with US patent laws regarding disclosure statements.
5. To ensure that all supporting documents are filed with the correct translation in the USPTO.
6. To save you the confusion and reduce the paper load of forms like the file used in IDS with the USPTO using the Form PTO/SB/08a and/or PTO/SB/09b.
Virtue Legal Services paralegal team provides complete support in preparing and managing the Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) by following the latest guidelines as established by the USPTO. We offer IDS-related solutions to US patent application filers so that they comply easily with the duty of disclosure. Our team can also help manage multiple IDS for entire patent portfolio as well.