
In most countries around the world, it is required that either the inventor, the inventor’s agent, or the attorney responsible for preparing the patent application disclose all information that they have regarding the patentability of the application the patent office. Therefore, patent applications include an information disclosure statement, which has all of this information. It is expected that all the relevant details be presented in good faith.
The information disclosure statement consists of two parts. The first part is a list that consists of all the publications, issued patents, magazines, books, scientific articles that have appeared in journals, or any other information that there might be. The second part is a succinct explanation that justifies the relevance of each item that has been listed which is not in a language that is recognized by the patent office.
Preparing an information disclosure statement allows for the preparation of a better patent application as well. While preparing the information disclosure statement, the practitioner has to take into account all the prior art when drafting any claims in the application. Therefore, it becomes easier to explain why the references are relevant. This in turn helps build a better, stronger patent application as well.