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INTODUCTION TO PATENTS

Presented by :

Navpreet Singh Mann


Navlika Dutta

Which of the following gives an author or inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing their work?
A. Copyright B. Patents

C. Trademarks

Its a Patent

Copyright protects original authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished. A Trademark is a word, name, symbol or device which is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others.

Patents can be :

Asserted offensively, i.e. enforced against others, When sued, asserted defensively or used to invalidate other partys patents, Licensed or cross-licensed, Assigned, i.e. completely sold, Used as a collateral to raise capital, Used to lend credibility to your companys technology and investment in R & D.

Special terms
Exclusive right The right to exclude others from

making, using, or selling the invention


Limited times Utility patents = 20 years from filing
Plant patent = 20 years from filing

Design patents = 14 years from issue

Reasons to Search Patents

To find out whether something is patentable To discover what resources are needed To learn how things work

More Reasons to Search Patents

To revisit answers that others have found to your own technological questions.
To identify a research direction taken by a specific company or inventor

To research the history of inventions and inventors

There exists a patent for

a) An athletic shoe sole design

b) The Poinsettia plant named Eckaddis


c) The comb-over d) All of the above

There exists a patent for

All of the above have patents! An athletic shoe sole design


Design Patent: D339,456

The Poinsettia plant named Eckaddis


Plant Patent: PP12,782

c) The comb-over
Utility Patent: 4,022,227

Types of Patents

Utility patents
- functional or structural novelty Design patents - ornamental designs Plant patents - varieties of plants

What can be patented? (utility patents)

a machine or apparatus a process, art, or method a manufacture or article of manufacture a composition of matter a new and useful improvement thereof

Criteria for patentability (utility patents)


Utility - must be useful, or have a use Novelty - must be new (12-month grace period)

Non-obvious
- the difference between existing art and

the invention must be sufficiently great as to warrant a patent

What cannot be patented?

Things not invented by the applicant Works of authorship (copyrights) Tradenames, logos, slogans, titles Laws of nature Inventions which will not work
perpetual motion machines weather machines

Parts of a Patent
The Front Page Patent Number Filing Date and Issue Date Title of the Invention Inventor(s) Assignee(s) Field of Search and References Cited Representative Drawing

Parts of a Patent

The Disclosure Drawings (as needed for clarity) Background of the Invention Brief Summary of the Invention Detailed Description of the Invention Claim(s)

Patent Search Resources


CASSIS/CD-ROM
Patents Bib Assignment File USAPat image file
1994 to present 1790 to 1990 And growing!

USApp

Official Gazette

Patent Search Resources on the Internet

U.S.P.T.O. Web Patent Database


http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html 7+ million U.S. patents Searchable full text from 1976 Scanned images from 1790

Patent Search Resources on the Internet

esp@cenet
European Patent Office http://ep.espacenet.com/ 30 million documents Patents documents from U.S., Europe, Japan, W.I.P.O.

Patent Search Resources on the Internet

Google search of the USPTO images http://www.google.com/patents Same data as the Patent Office with Additional searching from 17901976 using computer generated text

An inventor writes a computer program and is protected from others copying it by

A. B. C.

Copyright A Patent A Registered Trademark

Software Copyright and Patents

Copyright protects software from duplication and copying (ex: Microsoft can prosecute those that copy MS Word)
Patents protect an algorithm or program function (ex: Amazons controversial patent on the electronic shopping cart allows them to prevent others from using it) Trademarks protect a brand name of software

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