Patent Law Jody Blanke, Professor Computer Information Systems and Law Mercer University, Atlanta.
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Transcript of Patent Law Jody Blanke, Professor Computer Information Systems and Law Mercer University, Atlanta.
Patent Law
Jody Blanke, ProfessorComputer Information
Systems and LawMercer University, Atlanta
U.S. Constitution Article I, Section 8 of the
Constitution To promote the progress of science
and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries
Protection Patents protect the underlying idea
whereas copyrights protect only an expression (of an idea)
e.g., Thomas Edison v. Joe Schmoe Patents last for 20 years (from date of filing) Patents protect from independent creation
copyrights do not U.S. protects first to invent, not first to file
§ 101 Subject Matter Invention must be new and useful
process machine manufacture, or composition of matter
Can include “anything under the sun that is made by man.”
Cannot include laws of nature, scientific principles, mathematical formulas
§ 102 Novelty Cannot get a patent if
the inventor did not himself invent the subject matter
the invention was known or used by others in the U.S. or patented or described in a printed publication anywhere, or
the invention was in public use or on sale in the U.S. more than one year prior to filing
§ 103 Nonobviousness The differences between the
invention and the prior art must not have been obvious at the time of invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art e.g., cable ties
Sword or Shield Patents can be used offensively or
defensively may be held like a trump card e.g., Amazon v. Barnes & Noble
Patent holders may get greedy e.g., Compton’s Media, British
Telecom
Opening of the Floodgates Software patents Business method patents
State Street Bank & Trust (1998)