Sorry, you can’t. You can’t patent just “an idea.” It isn’t allowed by the law. Patents are granted only for things, processes, machines, manufactured articles, inventions. Abstract ideas and theories, alone, cannot be patented. Recent Supreme Court law just…
In an Op-Ed piece at the New York Times I came across via Patently-O, Paul Michel and Henry Nothhaft argue for the infusion of $1 billion into the Patent Office. What I noticed most in this article was their citation that…
Not very long ago, patent applications were maintained in secrecy until they issued as patents. Today, however, an application is published 18 months after its effective filing date, meaning that anyone can see your invention after you file it. By…
Patently-O has some interesting discussion regarding the ownership of a patent after a divorce. The case is Enovsys v. Nextel and stems from Sprint-Nextel’s appeal of a patent infringement verdict. As part of its argument, Sprint claimed that the plaintiff…
At last, the claims! The heart of the patent! Appropriately bringing this series of explanatory posts to an end, the claims conclude a patent. A patent can have one claim or many; generally, though, they’ve got 20 or less because…
Next in my series of posts, a topic probably deceiving the pithy label recently given: the detailed description. This eponymous section of a patent actually needs more explanation than one might garner from its name alone: the detailed description goes beyond…
Continuing the post series explaining patents, we now address the drawing descriptions. The description of the drawings is just that. It refers to each drawing by number and explains what the drawing is. The description is brief – it isn’t…
Next up in the Patents Explained series: the summary section of the patent. The summary is similar to the background of the invention, and, in that same vein, some consider it extraneous and potentially damaging to the patent as a…
I was talking with a client about two weeks ago and explaining the benefits of a provisional application. I was telling him that a provisional application is place holder – it keeps your spot in line – but he had…
Today in the Explaining Patents series: the background and field of invention section. The background generally comprises two parts: an explanation of the field of invention and a description of the prior art. The Patent Office rules suggest that it…