12.009 Product Engineering Processesyou are capable, competent,creative, careful.prove it.fortune cookie2.009 staff meeting22.009 Product Engineering ProcessesKey product development messagedesigntestcreativitycapabilityprocessprocesswishing wonʼt fix a design flaw32.009 Product Engineering ProcessesTodayPatent Literacy 101 the basics4But firstA few remindersPeer review due 5 PM todayDetails of technical review logistics are onlineNotebooks and timesheets this weekPatent Literacy 101At Least 10 Things You Should Know About PatentsNovember 17, 2008Elaine Yang610 Patent-Related Questions1. What is a patent?2. What about international patents?3. What is an “invention”?4. Who are the inventors of an invention?5. Is invention Z patentable?6. What is the process for getting a patent?7. What is the cost of getting a patent?8. Does product X infringe patent Y?9. What resources are available for help in getting a patent?10. Should one apply for a patent?7What is a Patent?Why do we have patents?From the United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8:The Congress shall have the power …To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing forlimited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to theirrespective Writings and Discoveries8What is a Patent?How is the patent system implemented in the U.S.?United States Patent Law found inTitle 35 of the United States Code (35 U.S.C.)United States Patent and Trademark Office (U.S.P.T.O.)agency within the U.S. Department of Commerceadministers the patent law and promulgates patent regulationsConsolidated Patent Rules found inTitle 37 Code of Federal Regulations (37 C.F.R.)Federal case law, including U.S. Supreme Court case lawPatent Examiners followManual of Patent Examining Procedure (M.P.E.P.)• Includes copies of the text of 35 U.S.C. and 37 C.F.R., explanations for how to applythem and references to case law (i.e., decisions by courts on how to apply the law)9What is a Patent?What types of patents are available?Utility Patents (35 U.S.C. 101)• process: method; series of steps for carrying out a task• machine: apparatus; generally has moving parts• composition of matter: chemical composition; mixture of substances• manufacture: human-made objects without moving parts• improvements of the items in the above four categoriesDesign Patents (35 U.S.C. 175)• ornamental design for an article of manufacturePlant Patents (35 U.S.C. 161)• asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant, including cultivatedsports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found seedlings, other than a tuberpropagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state10What is a Patent?What does a patent grant?A utility patent grants the patentee“the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States,and,if the invention is a process, of the right to exclude others from using,offering for sale or selling throughout the United States, or importing into the United States, products made by that process…”35 U.S.C. 154(a)(1)11What is a Patent?What does that mean?Owner of a patent may• grant licenses to third parties authorizing them to make, use, sell, offer tosell, or import the patented invention into the U.S. without fear of beingsued for patent infringement under the patents being licensed.• Note that a license does not protect against infringement of 3rd party patents.• ask a court to stop others from making, using, selling, offering to sell, orimporting the patented invention into the U.S. without permission.12What is a Patent?What does that mean?Patent does not grant any positive rights to the patentee.Patent does not grant the patentee the right tomake, use, offer for sale, or sell the invention throughout the United States orimport the invention into the United States.Why wouldn’t the patentee be able to import the invention?Example: The government has not/will not approve provide authorization for the import (e.g., prohibited weapons in the National Firearms Act).Why wouldn’t the patentee be able to offer for sale the invention?Example: The FDA has not yet approved the sale of the item to U.S.consumers.13What is a Patent?Why wouldn’t the patentee be able to make the invention?Example: Maybe there is a law that prohibits the manufacture of theinvention.Example: Maybe there is a third-party patent that blocks the patentee frommaking the invention.• Patent A: chair = seat and four legs• Patent B: rocking chair = seat and four legs and two rockers• Improvement patent14What is a Patent?How long does the patentee have the right to exclude?Patent termbegins: date on which the patent issuesends: 20 years from the date the application for the patent was filed inthe United States.* (35 U.S.C. 154(a)(2))• for applications pending on June 8, 1995, patent term is greater of 17 yearsfrom issuance or 20 years from date of filing (35 U.S.C. 154(c)(1))*Subject to a number of exceptions & the patentee maintaining the patent. Design patent terms are 14 years from the date of grant. 35 U.S.C. 173To find out whether a patent has been maintained, check the status of thepatent from the U.S.P.T.O.’s Public Patent Application InformationRetrieval (Public PAIR) website:http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/pair15What is a Patent?What happens when a patent term expires?The patentee no longer has the right to exclude.Law gives patentee some time to file a lawsuit, so a lawsuit may be filed after the patent term expires for infringement that occurred during the patent term.The information in the patent becomes public domain.The disclosure continues to serve as prior art.16What about international patents?• A patent right is granted by a country and may be enforced generallyonly on activities within that country.• Most countries have their own patent system with their own standards ofpatentability, their own patenting process, and their own fee schedule.• For an invention made in the U.S., a foreign filing license must beobtained before filing for a patent on the invention in any foreigncountry. 35 U.S.C. 184• Foreign filing license is normally granted when a U.S. patent application isfiled.• Penalty for filing without a foreign filing license: one may be fined not morethan $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.35 U.S.C. 18617What is an “invention”?Why it matters• Each