37 CFR § 42.401 - Definitions.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t37/s42.401"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "37 CFR § 42.401 - Definitions."
title_number: 37
title_name: "Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights"
section_number: "42.401"
section_name: "Definitions."
chapter_name: "UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE"
subchapter_number: "A"
subchapter_name: "GENERAL"
part_number: "42"
part_name: "TRIAL PRACTICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "35 U.S.C. 2(b)(2), 3, 6, 21, 23, 41, 134, 135, 143, 153, 311, 312, 314, 316, 318, 321-326, 328; Pub. L. 112-29, 125 Stat. 284; and Pub. L. 112-274, 126 Stat. 2456."
regulatory_source: "77 FR 48669, Aug. 14, 2012, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "42"
---


# 42.401 Definitions.

In addition to the definitions in § 42.2, the following definitions apply to proceedings under this subpart:

*Agreement* or *understanding under 35 U.S.C. 135(e)* means settlement for the purposes of § 42.74.

*Applicant* includes a reissue applicant.

*Application* includes both an application for an original patent and an application for a reissued patent.

*First publication* means either a patent or an application publication under 35 U.S.C. 122(b), including a publication of an international application designating the United States as provided by 35 U.S.C. 374.

*Petitioner* means a patent applicant who petitions for a determination that another party named in an earlier-filed patent application allegedly derived a claimed invention from an inventor named in the petitioner's application and filed the earlier application without authorization.

*Respondent* means a party other than the petitioner.

*Same or substantially the same* means patentably indistinct.