An invention disclosure statement (IDS) is the form used to submit information relevant to your invention’s patentability to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in order to fulfill your duty of disclosure. An IDS typically includes reference to known relevant patents, patent applications and other published information.
Applicants submit information to the patent office because each individual associated with the filing and prosecution of a patent application (e.g., the applicant and the lawyer) has a duty of candor and good faith in dealing with the USPTO, which includes a duty to disclose to the USPTO all information known to that individual to be material to patentability.
The duty is placed on the inventors and on all other persons substantively involved in the preparation and prosecution of the application. The duty includes the duty to disclose information that is material to the examination of the application, i.e., where there is a substantial likelihood that a reasonable examiner would consider it important in deciding whether to allow the application to issue as a patent.