Introduce invention &

practice it

Patent It Yourself 15th edition, 2011, ISBN: 1413313825, 624 pages, PDF, 16,2 MB

1 grace @csie.ntut

Chen JingFung (Grace)

@csie.ntut.edu.tw 2012/03/01

chapter 1 &2, “Patent It Yourself: Your Step-by-Step Guide” 15th

outline

• 3 types of Patents

• Intellectual Property Guides

– Including patent law, case study…

• An invention lifecycle

• Invention lesson

• Invention practice

2 grace @csie.ntut

3 types of patents – utility patents

• Utility Patents:

– Consist of detailed description

– Claims that define the invention, drawings of the invention, formal paperwork, etc.

grace @csie.ntut 3

US7,351,265 covers Piaggio’s scooter-size hybrid technology US8,051,444: make a bridge

btw Ads & TV program

3 types of patents – design patents

grace @csie.ntut 4 D547,242:3-wheel design

• Design Patents:

– Consist primarily of drawings, along with formal paperwork …

Italian Scooter

D505,846: bottle opener

D517,789: footwear

Design Patents: Claim Construction Rules Lead to Summary Judgment of Non-Infringement

3 types of patents – plant patents

• Plant Patents: – Discovery in a cultivated area

– can be a asexually reproducible plants (grafts & cutting), sexually reproducible plants (pollination), monopolized under the Plant Variety Protection Act …

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No. 15,185

grafts & cutting

No. 15,103

Intellectual Property Guides

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• Protect a whole process from intangible to tangible

• ǂ: timing is crucial (1 year secret)

• *: obtain a government’s proof

Ref: HTC

know-how

Intellectual Property Guide – case study

• China‘s Proview (唯冠) escalates fight over iPad name to the next level: ‘worldwide rights’

• Proview are suing Apple for alleged fraud and unfair competition – to reclaim their

ownership after a 2009 sale of the name.

– the “IPAD” trademark

for $55,000

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ref: kitguru.net (2012/2/27) +chinamedia(2012/2/28)

Intellectual Property Guide: comparisons

Right Usage fee Advantage

Utility patent

Articles where the new features have a useful function

Apply: $3,800 ~ $15,000

Expire: 20 years from filing date

Design patent

The aesthetic shape or layout by artificial

Apply: $1,600 ~ 2,600

Lasts only 14 years, 1~3 years secure

Copyright ©

Writings, flat artwork, photos, maps, drawings, programs, prints, labels, movies …

Only small filing fee

A very long time ( life + 70 years or 95-120 years)

Nature Mountain, sea … 0

Trademark

™, ®

About $50 ~ $120

• Trademark can deny offensive right ‐ become

“generic” ‐ Ex. Xerox,

Aspirin grace @csie.ntut 8 Ref: howdoigetatrademark.com Patent fee: http://www.webpatent.com/costs.htm

Intellectual Property Guide – case study

trademark

• “Linsanity” both in China, and at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (jdsupra.com 2012/2/28)

grace @csie.ntut 9

Intellectual Property Guide:

Patent fees list

Utility patent Design patent

Plant patent

Application filing fee

H L M

Issued fee H L L

Maintenance fees after issue

Fee1 (3 years): L Fee2 (7 years): M Fee3(11 years): H

No No

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Intellectual Property Guide:

patent vs. copyright ©

• Computer programs are best example for both a patent & copyright protection

– Run “routines” (a series of numerical relationships)

• be covered under the copyright laws

– Composing a set of instructions that make a machine operate in a certain way (To affect some Hardware or process) • (1) is tied to a particular machine or apparatus, or

• (2) transforms an article into a different state or thing

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Intellectual Property Guide: Use a patent

• A Patent Can Be Used as an Offensive Weapon or as a Prior-Art Reference

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industrial applicability or industrial application is a patentability requirement

An invention lifecycle about a patent

Invention in our mind

Invention document

<- not apply

Patent pending <-

apply it

In-force patent <- issued it

Patent expired (20 years after filing date)

“Trade secret”: kept confidential

“prior-art reference”

• Maintain lawsuit for infringement

• In-force period: at least 17 years

• Patent & Trademark Office (PTO)

• Maintain lawsuit for infringement

• Start to pay the maintenance fees

13 grace @csie.ntut

Invention lesson (1)

• 73% of all inventions, have started new industries, are from individual inventors

– “Everything that can be invented has been invented”

• U.S. Patent Office Director urging President to abolish the Office in 1899

– Don’t say: no use going on with it because surely someone has invented it already

– Try to develop your invention be a readily sold

14 grace @csie.ntut

Ref: HTC

Invention lesson (2)

problem recognition & solution

• Most inventions are conceived by the following two-step procedure:

– (1) recognizing a problem <- 90%

• Run two-step process of identifying a problem & solving it – Find a problem: “To be an inventor is to perceive (feel) need.”

– Solve it: Try to make it cheaper, faster, bigger or smaller, etc.

– (2) fashioning a solution <- inspiration 10%

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Invention practice (1)

Intermittent Windshield Wipers

• Problem:

– In drizzles, the slowest speed of windshield wipers was unnecessarily fast, and merely slowing the wipers was unsatisfactory, since a slow sweep was annoying.

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Invention practice (2)

Intermittent Windshield Wipers

• Solution: – Provide a “drizzle” setting where the windshield wipers

made normally fast sweeps but paused after each sweep.

• Individual inventor – Dr. Kearns’s brilliantly ingenious solution earned him and

his estate over $50 million in royalties, after he sued Ford, Chrysler, and others, as documented in the movie, Flash of Genius (靈光乍現)

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HW 1

• Practice 2 steps of inventions

– find a problem

– Try to solve it

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Reference

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• David Pressman, chapter 1 &2, “Patent It Yourself: Your Step-by-Step Guide” to Filing at the U.S. Patent Office, 2011, 15th edition, ISBN-10: 1413313825

• Flash of Genius Official Movie Trailer HD, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSd1BS8E3RE

• Blog: http://fungsiong.blogspot.com/ • Agile for progressing:

http://fungsiong.blogspot.com/search/label/Agile

• China patent statistics http://news.cnyes.com/Content/20120229/KFINDD5EYQIBI.shtml?c=sh_stock