A million dollar idea-and your next job [intellectual propertyengineers]

The legal world has many opportunities for engineers and other technically trained people. With the burgeoning of patent applications and patent-related disputes, and the greater complexity of inventions, the demand for intellectual property (IP) engineers will only increase. Some work as patent agents, which means they file patent applications on behalf of inventors and practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO); others go to law school and become patent attorneys; and still others work as examiners for the PTO, or some other country's patent office, where they analyze, research, and ultimately decide on the patentability of patent claims     

Eolas vs Web

After a jury fined Microsoft US $521million for infringement, the action moved back to the U.S. Patent And Trademark Office and a surprising patent reexamination.     

纳米技术专利分类研究

介绍了国际上纳米技术专利的分类方法、技术内容,以及美国专利局和欧洲专利局推出的纳米技术专属分类977和Y01N。对国际专利分类、美国专利分类和欧洲专利局专利分类中针对纳米技术的专利分类进行了介绍。     

Patent Do's and D'oh!

The process of getting a US patent goes something like this: you work with your patent lawyer or agent to prepare an application that describes your invention in exhaustive detail; the Patent Office rejects all of your claims in curt, dismissive terms; your counsel says not to panic and, in most cases, persuades the patent examiner to allow at least some claims; and, finally, two or more years after you first filed, agony gives way to ecstasy and the beribboned patent deed issues forth. But legal traps along the way may deprive the unwary of some or even all patent riots. Worse, you may not learn of a mistake until years later, after the patent has issued, when some alert lawyer asks a few innocent-sounding questions about a conference paper you gave and, shortly after, asks the court to invalidate your patent. The author describes how the most common mistakes fall into three categories: those that threaten US rights, those affecting foreign rights, and the effects of patent filings on trade secrets.     

全球激光显示技术专利分布格局与态势分析

由于具有色域覆盖率大、色饱和度高和低功耗等特点,激光显示技术被认为是最具有发展前景的显示技术之一。通过检索欧洲专利局世界范围专利数据库、美国专利商标局专利数据库和中国国家知识产权局专利数据库,对2001～2010年公开的5 898件激光显示相关专利进行了数据挖掘,研究了激光显示技术的发展概况,将其按照技术和竞争两个方面进行了统计分析,全面揭示了世界激光显示领域技术的分布格局与发展态势。     

Patenting propagated data signals: what hath God wrought?

The US Patent Office is now issuing patents on propagated data signals that embody computer programs. Result: patent infringement can now occur in a mouse click. While patents have always been available for new and useful processes, machines, manufactures, and compositions of matter, the extension of patent law to computer data signals is new. After losing a series of battles in the courts, the Patent Office now considers a computer program embodied in a carrier wave to be a manufacture, and hence patentable subject matter. This rather surprising development provides a powerful weapon against software patent infringement over the Internet; and it represents a dangerous snare for the telecommunications industry. Is there anything beyond the reach of patent law? The Supreme Court remains steadfast in this: patents cannot be obtained for abstract ideas, laws of nature, and natural phenomena     

Why are so many patents pending?

This article describes the work of the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and how a patent aplication is dealt with. Currently, it takes approximately 35 days for a patent application to get out of what's known as the pre-examination process and into the dreaded backlog, now up to more than 400000 applications and counting. The big question facing the PTO today is how, given the system in place, the staff can shorten the 24 months that it takes most applications to go from the mailroom to certification. PTO director James E. Rogan has made controversial suggestions. He wants, for example, to in effect add more examiners by outsourcing part of the examination's search process to outside contractors, and to increase application fees by more than 50 percent. Earlier reform attempts have had false starts, most notably the electronic filing system that was discarded in favor of one used by the European Patent Office. Even when, as the PTO plans, all patent applications are electronic, they will still have to be processed through the eyes and brains of the patent examiners.     

Intellectual property and patent abstracts

The author explains how examiners at the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) treat applications for inventions that seem to violate accepted scientific principles. In order to be entitled to a patent, an invention must be useful, novel, and non-obvious. In order to obtain a patent, the inventor must submit a specification that describes the invention in sufficient detail such that one of ordinary skill in the art can make and use the invention (without having to engage in undue experimentation). Inventions that indeed violate the laws of physics are not patentable because: (1) they are not useful (i.e., they do not work); and (2) the inventor is unable to properly describe how to make and use a device that violates the laws of physics. However, it is not always so easy to separate those inventions that do indeed violate the laws of physics from those inventions that only appear to violate such laws. Examiners at the PTO use a document called the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) when examining an application for a patent. The author reproduces two of the more pertinent sections of the MPEP that relate to the issue of determining whether an invention is useful.     

Man’s need or man’s greed: The human rights ramifications of green ICTs

There is burgeoning enthusiasm for the benefits of “green” ICTs, but a common oversight among environmental activists and conscientious consumers, not to mention policymakers, is the assumption that usage of a product is the only segment of that item’s lifecycle with environmental impacts. Pre-manufacture and post-disposal challenges tend to be forgotten in state or corporate boosterism about “green” technologies in telecommunications, with the costs being suffered by peoples and ecosystems far away from consumers. Furthermore, human rights are at stake, with a conflict brewing among modern conceptions of human rights concerning telecommunications, development, and environmental protection.     

Google Searches for Ad Dollars in Social Networks

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently published a series of intriguing patent applications from Google. They raise questions about the search giant?s significance for the profitability of social networks?and whether anyone has figured out how best to translate Web 2.0 hype into bankable income. Dozens of social-networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, and Friendster continue to flourish like Web start?ups in the dot-com heyday?consuming engineering talent, computing resources, and thousands of lines of code along the way.     

Technology standards-setting in the US wireless telecommunications industry: A study of three generations of digital standards development

This article focuses on the evolution of technology standards-setting in the US wireless telecommunications industry during the decades of the 1980s and 1990s. The purpose of this exploratory study is to understand and model the organizational process and environmental influences employed to develop three generations (i.e. second generation (2.0) Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), second generation (2.5) Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and third generation (3.0) Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA)) of de jure US wireless digital telecommunications standards. Through the use of a multi-case study approach, the research study focuses on inter-organizational strategic cooperation among wireless telecommunications firms proposing competitive technology designs in the standard development process. Based on data collected in these three case studies, wireless standard development models are “mapped” for the TDMA, CDMA and WCDMA technologies. Moreover, a generic, conceptual wireless technology standard development model is “mapped”, a further refinement of an earlier seminal model of telecommunications standard-setting. Finally, conclusions are reached, with both theoretical and practical implications, and suggested areas of future research (in the form of a set of research hypotheses) are presented.     

Down and out in Ham lake

This paper presents a cautionary tale to all inventors who surrender their patents in return for funding. The paper relates the experience of Corliss Orville Burandt, who claims to have invented a method called variable valve timing. Burandt discovered that Honda's intelligent VTEC engine used a technique that he believes is identical to his patent. He also claims that four other major auto companies have recently filed for patents on concepts that would infringe his patents. Unfortunately, Burandt found out that he didn't own the patents and that Investment Rarities Inc., which had initially provided funds to develop his inventions, had failed to pay the US Patent and Trademark Office in maintenance fees that were due on the 12 patents Burandt had assigned to the company in exchange for funding. This case should serve as a lesson to all inventors not to assign the patent to their development partners, but instead to give them an exclusive license. That way, the inventor maintains control over the invention, can monitor and ensure payment of maintenance fees, and can work language into the contract that stipulates that the exclusive license can be terminated if the licensee does not make a reasonable effort to commercialize the technology.     

Characteristics of ICT‐Based Converging Technologies

The rising pace of technological change in information and communications technology (ICT) has provoked technological convergence by providing a new mode of diversification. This paper investigates the nature of ICT‐based converging technologies by examining comparative empirical evidence on converging versus nonconverging technologies in relation to the following issues: patent application trends, concentration across technologies, the concentration of patenting activity across firms, R&D efforts, and a technology impact index. For this study, a new operational definition of ICT‐based converging technology is derived, and a massive quantity of patents, up to around 600,000, is analyzed. This study follows the International Patent Classification as well as the modified European Commission's industry classification system for the classification of technologies and industries, respectively.     

Europe and the Global Information Society: The history of a troubled relationship

It is argued that recent developments in European Union policy towards the Information Society need to be understood as the latest phase in a history of telecommunications policy making going back to the Union's earliest days. This history combines two strands: (a) a battle between the Commission and the European national PTTs over the co-ordinate and control of telecommunications networks and services; and (b) an industrial policy to support Europe's Information and Commnication technology industries in the face of US and Japanese competition. At the same time Commission policy was marked by a tension between the industrial policy, favoured by DGXIII, which lead to RACE and the Fourth Framework Programme and the competition policy enshrined in the Treaty of Rome of which DGIV was the guardian. It is argued that the new Information Society programme is an attempt to mediate these tensions which can only be successful so long as it remains at the level of rhetoric but will inevitably break apart once concrete action is called for.     

The effect of industry standard setting on patent licensing andenforcement

Patent policies issued by standard-setting organizations help resolve the tension between enforcing patent rights and adopting open standards. In this article we examine the application of these policies to patent licensing and enforcement situations. An industry standard consists of a specified set of technologies adopted by an industry group in order to effect compatibility among products. The tension between enforcing proprietary intellectual property rights and adopting open industry standards has become a central issue for standards-setting bodies as well as the courts called on to enforce patent rights. As patent rights become more and more prominent in the global economy, the issues presented by the incorporation of patented technology into standards have become increasingly important. The ideal of open, widely promulgated standards is at odds with a patent owner's right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the patented invention. The ability of an industry member to exclude others from practicing a standard by asserting a patent that covers the standard would serve to undermine rapid and widespread adoption of the standard, resulting in reduced value of the standard. To prevent this situation, standard-setting organizations have developed patent policies that require their members to disclose intellectual property that may impact a proposed standard. Furthermore, patent owners are required to either forgo enforcement of patent rights against standard users, or promise to license their patents to all comers at a fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory rate. Such a policy resolves many of the tensions between proprietary technology and the desire for an open, widely practiced standard. However, the implementation of such a policy is not as straightforward as may at first appear     

WiMAX开放专利联盟成员的专利分析

WiMAX知识产权的主要推进组织--＂开放专利联盟（OPA）＂自2008成立以来共有13名成员加入,但成员扩张速度较慢,未能拉拢大批通信巨鳄的加入。在全球WiMAX专利申请量和重点技术领域专利布局上OPA成员优势不明显,参与IEEE披露的企业中也未见OPA成员的身影。传统通信厂商的缺位势必增加了产业化过程中遇到＂专利伏击＂的概率。OPA在前往WiMAX专利许可的道路上任重道远。     

What do we want specifically from the cell phone? An age related study

This study investigated the evolution of specific cell phone feature preferences among high school, undergraduate and graduate college students in Finland. Following the relevant literature review, the paper analyzed the responses of 118 high school, 268 undergraduate and 84 graduate students from educational institutions located in the metropolitan area of Tampere, Finland. The results indicate that the students in Finland appreciate the specific feature “clock”, “phone”, “high battery life”, “alarm”, and “calendar” as very important, and the specific features “TV connectivity”, “joystick”, “live TV”, “Twitter”, and “small screen size” as unimportant features. There were also significant differences in the specific feature preferences between the students between high school, undergraduate and graduate students. In addition there were differences in the way the respondents conceptualize the specific feature preferences of the cell phone. The paper concludes with a discussion regarding the academic and managerial implications.     

Methodology and experimental system for measuring and displaying I–V characteristic curves of PV facilities

This paper describes a methodology and the developed system for measuring, capturing, and displaying I–V and P–V characteristic curves of photovoltaic (PV) modules or arrays based on single‐ended primary inductance converters (SEPIC) in parallel connection, operating in interleaved mode. The proposed methodology and the developed system allow the real time capture and displaying of the I–V and P–V curves of a PV panel or array, and show several advantages with regard to classical methods: simple structure, scalability, fast response, versatility, direct display, and low cost. The measuring of the characteristic curves of PV modules includes high speed of response and high fidelity, with low ripple. An experimental prototype based on four SEPIC converters in parallel connection has been implemented to validate the proposed methodology. This new methodology and experimental system has been registered in the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office with the number P200930198. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

场致发射显示领域专利分析

由于优异的显示特性,场致发射显示器被认为是最有发展前景的平板显示器件之一.分析场致发射显示领域的专利有助于了解该领域的技术发展动态.通过检索欧洲专利局的专利数据库,对筛选出的主要场致发射领域相关的专利进行统计分析,讨论了美国、日本、韩国、中国等的厂商在场致发射显示领域技术的发展现状和未来发展趋势,着重研究了我国场致发射显示领域专利的发展趋势和存在的问题.     

Festo, schmesto! [patent law and the doctrine of equivalents]

Does a recent US Supreme Court decision in the case of Festo Corp. versus Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., Ltd., expand or limit the rights of patent holders to sue copycats? This article discusses the "doctrine of equivalents," which allows the patent holder to expand a patent beyond its literal terms to cover subject matter it doesn't expressly mention. At its heart are two premises: first, it is difficult to capture the full scope of technical innovation in words; and second, some people are wiseguys. No matter how carefully a patent claim is worded, no matter how well it appears to cover an invention, there will always be those who will search eagerly for the loophole, a way to circumvent language and avoid infringement. Patent law rewards innovation with exclusivity for a limited time period. But the reason patents are printed and published is to encourage still further innovation. The problem arises when someone slyly avoids a patent's language without contributing anything new-in effect, appropriating the benefits of an invention without enriching the art. Ultimately, the doctrine of equivalents plays a marginal role in patent law. That's because reasonably well-written patent claims are not, in the main, easy to avoid if the benefits of the invention are to be retained. Courts apply the doctrine to catch the occasional wiseguy while defending the certainty patent claims are supposed to provide. The Supreme Courts latest adjustment notwithstanding, that role is likely to continue