“The Provisional Application for Patent”- Under federal statute 35 USC 111(b), an applicant may file a “provisional application for patent,” which must include a specification, i.e., a written description of the invention, […]
Structural Weaknesses of the “Quick and Dirty” Provisional Patent Application
The NDA – A Key Agreement in Business Operations
A Healthy Paranoia – Protection of intellectual property can be a critical task for an enterprise. This is often the case from the earliest gestation of a business when a new invention […]
A Hypothetical Case – of Keeping an Invention From Going to the Dogs
The Opportunity (1) – Dave is the founder of Catalyst Concepts, a small product design firm. He’s been looking for years to get some business from Gigatron Inc., a major player in […]
Have Brain, Will Invent: Who Owns Your Inventions?
The Law – Our U.S. Constitution provides that inventors shall have “the exclusive right to their discoveries.” Accordingly, Federal statute 35 USC 111 states that, “An application for patent shall be made, […]
The Provisional Application for Patent – What It Is, When It’s Used
On June 8, 1995, the United States Patent and Trademark Office introduced the “provisional application for patent” to inventors. The premise was to encourage small businesses and independent inventors to protect their […]
The Invention Disclosure- Putting a Stake in the Ground
A Good Habit to Get Into – In the United States, a limited monopoly in the form of a patent may be granted to the first to invent, rather than the first […]
What is a Patent?
There is certainly no shortage of technically talented and inventive people in our area who could answer this question. Rochester consistently ranks at or near the top nationally in many measures of […]
Patent Misuse – A New Defense Against Patent Abuse?
The Property Right – a Review – Regular readers of this column will recall that a patent is a property right (1) – the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling […]
…And Last But Not Least – The New “First to File” Statute Under the AIA
Encore – For slightly over a year now, the majority of our columns have covered various provisions of the America Invents Act, which became law on September 16, 2011. And for good […]
Challenging Business Method Patents Under Section 18 of the AIA
Patent Reform – This is our ninth article describing the various sections of the America Invents Act (AIA)1. Section 18 of the AIA legislates what is called a transitional program for covered […]
