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Application (patent)
A document describing an invention in detail, which is to be submitted to a patent office with the aim of obtaining a patent on the invention.

Asexual Reproduction
Creating a plant using techniques such as grafting, budding, or using cuttings, layering, or division without using seeds. Plant offspring will be substantially identical to the parent. Important in plant patents.

Claims
Claims in a patent define an invention and are legally enforceable. They are written in very precise language.

For example a recent patent for a drill bit includes the following claims:

What is claimed is:
1. A bit comprising: A roller cone affixed to a bit body so that a drill diameter of the cone is substantially concentric with an axis of rotation of the bit; and fixed cutters disposed on the bit body radially from the axis at a drill radius selected to drill a hole having a larger diameter than a hole drilled by the roller cone wherein the cutters are external to the roller cone.

2. The bit of claim 1 wherein the fixed cutters comprise tungsten carbide cutters.

3. The bit of claim 1 wherein the fixed cutters comprise boron nitride cutters.

...and so on. This patent actually includes 39 claims. You can read them all in the pdf version of the patent.

(U.S Patent 6,439,326 Centered-leg roller cone drill bit Inventors: Huang; Sujian (The Woodlands, TX); Cawthorne; Chris E. (The Woodlands, TX) )

Classification
Patents are classified (organized) in the U.S. by a system using a 3-digit class and a subclass. For example, a computer mouse (in the language of the Patent Office, a computer input and display control device) might be classified as 345/156. If your invention included an improvement to a computer mouse that involved a joystick, you might look at additional subclasses, including subclass 161, which covers joysticks.

The U.S. Patent Office provides access to the Manual of Classification and the Index to the Manual of Classification on its Web site, where you can search or browse through all the current patent classifications and subclasses.

Keep in mind that a patent can have more than one class and subclass. Also when searching for patents, searching by classification is the best way to identify the patents that might be similar to what you have invented and would like to patent.

Copyright
A copyright protects an original artistic or literary work. Copyright registration is done through the U.S. Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov/ ), a division of the Library of Congress.

Design Patent
The emphasis of this type of patent is on the design of the invention, not on its functionality. What is important with this type of patent are the invention's unique ornamental and aesthetic properties. Design patent numbers always begin with D.

Disclosure
In return for a patent, an inventor provides a complete revelation or disclosure of the invention he or she is seeking to protect with a patent.

Invention
An invention is the conception of a new and useful article, machine, composition, or process.

Lamar, Mirabeau B.
As president of the Republic of Texas, he approved an act establishing a patent office within the Department of State. Citizens of Texas (and those who had filed intentions of becoming citizens) who had made original inventions could obtain patents, to run for fourteen years or for any part of that time they remained within Texas.

Likelihood of Confusion
Registration of a trademark or service mark will be refused if it is likely to conflict with a mark or marks already registered or pending before the USPTO. To find a conflict, the marks do not have to be identical, and the goods and/or services do not have to be the same. It may be enough that the marks are similar and the goods and/or services related.