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I encountered this phrase which said "the Examiner takes Offical Notice that A in the cited invention corresponds to B in the instant invention." when translating. I got the meanings of 'take notice' and 'official notice' from online dictionaries. Also, the 'Official Notice' is a name of the document I was translating.

take notice: pay attention (I'm sorry that there is no link to any site. I couldn't find any page that explains the meaning of 'take notice that' in English, so I got this from pages in my first language. I found some pages that explain the meaning of 'take notice of' though.)

official notice: Official notice means the decision taken by an administrative law judge that any judicially cognizable facts, technical or scientific facts are true when the parties have not presented evidence contrary about it. The administrative law judge before taking such official notice shall issue notice to the parties about the fact on which such official notice is to taken. The administrative law judge shall also state in the notice details about the sources of such facts including any staff memoranda and data. Then the parties will be given an opportunity to contest the facts and material so noticed. A party taking such official notice is required to produce a copy of the material about which the judicial notice is taken. (http://definitions.uslegal.com/o/official-notice%20/)

However, I can't understand the exact meaning of 'to take Official Notice that'. From the explanation of the meaning of 'take notice that,' I got the feeling that it's usually used when you want to warn someone as in e.g., "Take notice that you don't get into trouble." and "Please take notice that your manuscript must be in our hands by January 30." And I think I also understand the usage of I take/took notice that... as in "I took notice that my chat system wasn't working properly." which, from my assumption, means "I realized that..."?

What does it exactly mean when it's used in the form of 'someone takes Official Notice that...'? Does it mean someone officially realized something??

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    Because "Official Notice" is capitalized, could it be the name of some document or process? Can you add some additional context? If it were "the Examiner takes official notice that ..." it might mean "the Examiner takes notice officially that ...".
    – user3169
    Aug 22, 2016 at 0:35
  • @user3169 Yes, it is the name of the document. The whole sentence was like this: "The examiner takes Official Notice that A in the cited invention corresponds to B in the instant invention." I'm going to add this to my question.
    – Mikiko
    Aug 22, 2016 at 0:41
  • I know there is one called Ask Patent on SE, but it seems like the questions I have are too much of a beginner, and nobody has ever answered my questions on there, which I get.
    – Mikiko
    Aug 22, 2016 at 0:46
  • This is certainly seems to be a term of art in patent law. The phrase take official notice appears throughout the USPTO site.
    – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica
    Aug 22, 2016 at 0:51
  • @P.E.Dant I just looked at the site. Yes, I found many pages that used this phrase, but none of them has any explanations for the meaning of it. I'm sure it's because these pages are for native or fluent speakers that are experts in this field and obviously know the meaning of this phrase...
    – Mikiko
    Aug 22, 2016 at 0:56

1 Answer 1

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Under US Patent Law, "Official Notice" has the meaning of "understood meaning", which is different from "Common Knowledge".

For the rejection of a patent application, there are rule that any Official Notice needs to be documented here. This can be important since patents are about protecting "unique" ideas.

the Examiner takes Offical Notice that A in the cited invention corresponds to B in the instant invention

seems to mean that the Examiner is stating A and B are the same. This is probably for some legal reason and it is not assumed that A being the same as B would be considered common knowledge.

It could be that two slightly different names were used, or A being a written description (cited) and B being an actual model of the invention (instant = this).

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  • Thank you, @Peter! Just when I was thinking I'm just not smart enough... Can I ask you more questions on this if I have to after I get a good grasp of your answer first?
    – Mikiko
    Aug 22, 2016 at 9:59
  • So it probably means that the Examiner isn't claiming A corresponds to B because of common knowledge, but the Examiner 'perceives' that way?
    – Mikiko
    Aug 22, 2016 at 10:04
  • 'perceives' that way based on some legal reason. So, when I figure out what that applied legal reason is, I should be able to understand exactly what that sentence meant!
    – Mikiko
    Aug 22, 2016 at 10:11
  • It's the other way around, because it is not considered Common Knowledge, the Examiner is "taking Official Notice". If something is considered Common Knowledge it does not need to be "taken Official Notice of".
    – Peter
    Aug 22, 2016 at 17:49
  • Argh! Why can't I just get it?! Thank you again, @Peter. Now I have a better understanding about that sentence. If it was considered Common Knowledge, the Notice would say it is Common Knowledge, but because it is not, the Examiner is taking Official Notice of that correspondence.
    – Mikiko
    Aug 23, 2016 at 0:12

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