Utility patents protect what things do. Design patents protect how things look. Design patents have existed for well over 100 years: “[w]homever invents any new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture may obtain a patent therefor … .” So the design patent only applies to an ‘article of manufacture;’ that is, a physical product, and only […]
Patent
You’ve developed a wonderful new product. The world will soon be your oyster. But when can you start selling your product? Can you sell your new product before you file a patent application? Before the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (‘AIA’) became law in 2011, the answer was clear. OLD LAW: A person shall be […]
Patent ‘claims’ appear at the end of a patent and determine what is protected by the patent. One purpose of the claims is to inform competitors of what they can do without infringing. Consider the following (entirely bogus) patent claim to an automobile: An automobile, the automobile having four attractive wheels supporting an optimized frame […]
The Parable of the Three Bears and their Camera
March 10, 2022
Patent
Whether an invention is abstract or new. They are different issues.
David Whips Goliath in the USITC (What’s that?)
February 3, 2022
Litigation, Patent
The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) is not a Federal court – in many ways, it’s better than a Federal court where U.S. patents are concerned. The USITC is a U.S. administrative agency charged with, among other things, handling claims by a U.S. patent owner that imported products infringe a U.S. patent. To trigger USITC […]
And the Award for Patent Troll of the Year Goes to… Caltech?
January 6, 2022
Patent
About a decade ago, there was a huge uproar over ‘patent trolls,’ also known as ‘non-practicing entities’ – companies that did not make products but that owned patents. The business model of the patent troll was to sue or threaten infringers and to collect patent infringement damages. The coordinated attack on the U.S. patent system […]
Covid and Patents
December 2, 2021
Patent
Should the Covid vaccines be set free in the world, so that everyone can gain immunity? Few would argue that’s a bad idea, since more variants may arise in under-vaccinated populations, those variants will undoubtedly spread to us, and those variants may be resistant to our vaccines. But what about the rights of the creative […]
Necessity is the Mother of… Too Late for That.
November 11, 2021
Patent
First your headlamp failed and then your backup light and then the light on your phone. It’s pitch black. Not just shadowy black, but absolutely, completely black – so black that the fish have no eyes. You’re in a limestone cave, deep underground. You’ve been utterly lost for hours. There are no paths, only the […]
If Artificial Intelligence is the Inventor, Who Gets the Patent?
October 14, 2021
Patent
Artificial intelligence (‘AI’) can be pretty smart – smart enough to create new, useful and non-obvious inventions. Take, for example, Dr. Stephen Thaler’s AI tool ‘Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience’ (‘DABUS’). DABUS created two inventions, a light beacon and a food container. Dr. Thaler applied for patents for those inventions around the world, […]
When is a Design Obvious?
September 2, 2021
Patent
When most inventors think of a patent, they think of a better-mousetrap type patent, known as a utility patent. A utility patent protects what an invention is and how it works. U.S. Patent 269,766 for a mousetrap that plugs a mouse with a bullet from a .44 is an example of a utility patent. Our […]