Patentability search – 1

(classification search)

Chen JingFung (Grace)

@csie.ntut.edu.tw 2012/05/03

Chapter 6, “Patent It Yourself: Your Step-by-Step Guide” 15th, 2011, ISBN: 1413313825

outline

• Why make a Patentability Search?

– Counter example against ordinary skills

– Define the scope & Dig novel features

• Patent infringement

• Patent search – classification search

– Espacenet, USPTO..

– USPTO check patent application status

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Why make a Patentability Search?

• Valuable background info

– Know how to describe & draw components

• Contain a detailed description of your invention

• Provide more info about operability & design

• Obtain commercial info 3

Grace@iii.org.tw & cise.ntut

Check grant patents on your invention?

Avoid wasting time/ money

Learn valuable background info.

“feel for the art”

Invention in what field?

Existing patents – endcap at outlet

Interactive endcap

Outlet

PAT. title C R Issue Assignee

US7069274 Method and apparatus for cataloguing and scripting the display of informational content

89/91 (F:2)

4 2006

PRN Corp. (Primer Retails Network)

US6944632 Method and apparatus for gathering statistical information about in-store content distribution

86/90 (F:4)

16 2005

US6931406 Method and apparatus for distributing promotional material to a user in a commercial sales outlet

69/73 (F:4)

2 2005

US6654757 Digital System 13/17 (F:4)

32 2003

US6553404 Digital System 10/12 (F:2)

38 2003

US6366914 Audiovisual content distribution system 22 72 2002

Focal point

Qorvis media group Inc. Expc Dt: 2000

Interactive endcap

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Counter example against ordinary

skills

• cited some uncover references to help convince the examiner – Show that you’ve turned a past failure into success

– “+ proof “ that your invention provides unexpected results & is unobvious

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Light-emitting devices stimulate the mind resulting in poorer sleep

(ref: Oska University, prevention.com)

Glossy/ flash

Look Fog as reading a

paper

Fig ref: Kreative Discussions

Define the scope & Dig novel features

• Define the general thrust, structure & advantage of your patent application

• After searching, you’ll be able to recited, pointed out novel features & advantage on your patent application

– Tailor your claims to such novel features

• Avoid the need to narrow your claims

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similarity advantage

LeRoy vs. Minerva’s cereal product

shape LeRoy’s is more stable than Minerva’s

LeRoy invented a sturdy but edible, baked scoop for dips, including sala

Patent infringement – equivalents 1

• Literal infringement

– Each & every element of the claims is infringed

• Doctrine of equivalents

– not literally falling within the scope of the claims <- a somewhat insubstantial feature or element has been replaced

– “triple identity” test

• It performs substantially the same function

• In substantially the same way

• To yield substantially the same result

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Graver Tank & Manufacturing Co. v. Linde Air Products Co. (1950) Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., 535 U.S. 722 (2002)

Patent infringement -2

• Prosecution history estoppel

– makes a change to a patent application to accommodate the requirements of patent law

– cannot claim indirect infringement of an element that was narrowed

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Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., 535 U.S. 722 (2002)

Patent infringement - case study

• File wrapper estoppel mixes doctrine of equivalents (04/16/09) – Felix(US6155625) v. American Honda Co.

• not literally infringed and estopped from a doctrine of equivalents when the applicant canceled broad claims and incorporated them into dependent claims – The court was testy due to misrepresentations by

Felix as to how the dictionary defined the terms “mounted” and “engaging.”

» Court: “mounted” as “securely affixed or fastened to” and “engaging” as “forming a seal”

» Felix: “bring together” as argued » District court: “latching”

– the court noted that Felix rewrote claim 7 , which included “a weather tight gasket mounted on said lip and engaging said lid in its closed position,” into independent form

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http://www.patentblurb.com/doku.php?id=start

Patent infringement - case study

(korean)

• Korean courts (98 Hur 2160, 1998) set out the following elements in applying the Doctrine of Equivalents

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http://koreanap.co.kr/koreanap_e/sub/property/1_patent.htm

explain

interchangeability Even if an element is different from that in a patented invention, such element performs the same function in the same way to obtain the same result as the corresponding element of the patented invention

known interchangeability the substitute element could have been easily conceived by a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the alleged infringement

hypothetical claim the alleged infringement is neither the same as nor could be easily conceived from art publicly known prior to the filing date of the patented invention

file-wrapper estoppel the substitute element was not excluded from the claims of the patented invention during patent prosecution

Online patent search DB

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USPTO Report Shows Intellectual Property-Intensive Industries Contribute $5 Trillion, 40 Million Jobs to U.S. Economy

Patent search - classification search

• Classification search – make a search of all patents in a particular class

and subclass

– EPO and USPTO work toward joint classification system • Develop a joint classification system (CPC) based on the

European Classification system (ECLA) – Improving patent searching

– Sharing resources

» shared in order to classify documents, to revise the scheme when necessary and to subsequently reclassify documents

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http://www.cooperativepatentclassification.org/index.html

CPC ECLA USPC

EPO USPTO

IPC

WIPO

• Find EPO.org search – ->

Espacenet - worldwide patent search

– -> Access Espacenet at the EPO

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Type keyword to find its

classification

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Find classification(s) for keywords: internet

…. -> H04N21

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Keyword(s) in title or abstract:

VOD

WIPO - International Patent Classification (IPC)

16 http://www.wipo.int/ipcpub/#refresh=page

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Espacenet patent search –

European classification

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This classification for new technological & cross-over technologies

Espacenet - search field identifiers

Field identifier Description Example

in inventor in= smith

pa Applicant pa=samsung

ti Title ti=mouse trap

ab Abstract ab=mouse trap

pn Publication number pn=ep1000000

ap Application nmuber ap=jp19890234567

pd Publication date pd=20080101 or pd=“01/01/2008” or pd=01/01/2008

ct Cited document ct=ep1000000

ec European (ECLA) classification Ec=H01J49/16A3

ic International classification ic=A63B49/08

ia Inventor or applicant ia=Apple or ia=“Ries Klaus”

ta Title and abstract ta=laser printer

…

Grace@iii.org.tw & cise.ntut 18 Ref: Espacenet brochure

function description example

Boolean operators

AND, OR, NOT

Default = AND; priority: Left > right; No operator = default

(ta=seat AND ta=belt) OR (ta=seatbelt)

Truncation

? Append 1 or 0 character telephone? (for telephone or Telephones)

# Append 1 character telephone# (for telephones)

* Append any num of characters

play* (for play, plays, player, playback, etc)

comparison operators

= Equal to. pa=siemens

== Exactly equal to ia==“Mason Henry”

All Finds all terms ti all “paint brush hair”

Any ti any “motor engine”

Within Within a date range pd within “2005 2006” or pd within “2005, 2006”

>= pd >=2005 will retrieve documents published in 2005 or later.

<= pd <=2005 will retrieve documents published in 2005 or earlier

String search “ ” Search on exact expression “seat belt” Grace@iii.org.tw & cise.ntut

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Espacenet - search operators

Ref: Espacenet brochure

USPTO - patent classification 1

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USPTO.gov -> (POPULAR LINKS) Patent search -> Patent Classification

USPTO - patent classification 2

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http://www.uspto.gov/patents/resources/classification/caa.pdf

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Application Patent

USPTO patents check application status

• Patents: Check Application Status [PAIR] -> Public PAIR -> Enter the verification codes

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US6021410 Extensible digital library

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Search by classification -

Cooperative Patent Classification(CPC)

• Timeline & milestone

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2010 ~ 2011

• (2010/10)Joint statement launching the project

• (2010/11)Freeze of the USPC scheme

• (2011/10)Launch the CPC website

2012

• (2012/07)Develop training, document classification practices, design the collaborative environment

• (2012/07)Freeze of the ECLA scheme

• (2012/10)"CPC launch scheme" available

After Jan 2013

• Quality assurance

• CPC used by EPO & USPTO

• Harmonized classification practices

• Joint CPC revisions

• CPC available for use by other IP offices & the public

http://www.cooperativepatentclassification.org/index.html

Summary

• The advantage of patentability search

• Patent infringement

– Focus on Literal infringement, Doctrine of equivalents & Prosecution history estoppel

• Patent classification search for different DBs

– ECLA, USPC, IPC

– CPC is developing a joint classification system for ECLA(EPO)+USPC(USPTO)

– USPTO’s check patent application status

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Reference

• David Pressman, chapter 6, “Patent It Yourself: Your Step-by-Step Guide” to Filing at the U.S. Patent Office, 2011, 15th edition, ISBN-10: 1413313825 – Reference by “Previous Course Slide” record set: introduce invention,

evaluate invention, WM2Patent, Patent Requirement (novelty & nonobviousness)

• Blog: http://fungsiong.blogspot.com/ – Introduce hybrid TV/Smart TV (hbbTV) including widget design,

Android technology (API), system, ecosystem, framework, service, application…,

– Agile for progressing: http://fungsiong.blogspot.com/search/label/Agile • About how to teamwork

– Some programming info. as Apache wookie, refactoring tech, CE-HTML, a solution about removing a backdoor “Trojan” & surveillance paper

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