Posted by: Bradley
« on: February 06, 2015, 06:29:42 PM »Thank you, Brad. I appreciate the information.
Hi,
There is no rule or requirement that you have to cite or reference other patents (even in the non-provisional its not mandatory). With that being said, you should not be copying/pasting text or images from other patents. You can use them as a guide but you should try to re-word it into your own language.
Many of the "old school" patent attorneys like to list and talk about other patents in the Background section of their patent but in all of the more recent training events I have been to this practice now seems to be frowned upon and is not done by many attorneys because:
1. Its not needed so why waste time/money doing it, and
2. It may be used against you either by the patent office or later in litigation
Its basically all risk and no reward.
The only time I would cite a reference is if there was some well known technique that was too complex to explain I would simply cite the patent that teaches that technique instead of writing it all out myself.
Thanks
Brad