This book thus covers the nuts and bolts of writing, filing and prosecuting a patent application in order to obtain a patent. It tries to condense this knowledge into a small footprint that the patent professional can keep readily to hand. It is not a bulky case book, an advanced treatise or the not particularly user-friendly doorstop, the Manual of Patent Examination Procedure (MPEP). Instead, this book is intended to be a resource that the user can go to get a general overview of the issues at hand in the pursuit of obtaining patent protection.