IP Glossary: S

Revised 29 Jan 2017

Skilled Addressee	The person or team of persons to whom a patent application or patent is addressed. A person or team of persons having the skills and knowledge to make or  use an invention but not necessarily to invent it unless the invention was obvious,  sometimes referred to as “the person skilled in the art” and in old law reports as “the man skilled in the art.”
Specification	(1) A document setting out the scope of a patent which is usually drafted in three parts: the technical problem that the invention addresses, a detailed description of the invention and the claims setting out the monopoly that is sought for the invention. (2) A document setting out the scope of a trade mark registration.
State of the Art	Defined by s.2 (2) of the Patents Act 1977 “as all matter (whether a product, a process, information about either, or anything else) which has at any time before the priority date of that invention been made available to the public (whether in the United Kingdom or elsewhere) by written or oral description, by use or in any other way..” It can also include matter contained in an application for another patent which was published on or after the application for an invention where the following conditions are met: (a) that matter was contained in the application for that other patent both as filed and as published; and (b) that matter was disclosed before the invention.
Supplemental Protection Certificate (“SPC”)	An extension to the term of a patent for a drug or plant protection product to compensate for delays in exploiting the invention while waiting for regulatory approval.