A Board Certified Patent Attorney

Archive for the ‘Advanced Patent Issues’ Category

Invent Something? Plan Marketing Carefully” Offers Good Advice

In a column in the The Herald in Bradenton, Florida, entitled “Invent Something? Plan Marketing Carefully“, business columnist Jerry Osteryoung offers good advice to inventors looking to hire a patent attorney to assist them in securing legal rights to their ideas.   Jerry Osteryoung is a finance professor at Florida State University and executive director of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship at Florida State University’s College of Business.   Jerry makes some good points in his column and I agree with much of the advice given. I would be careful, however, in judging a patent attorney’s capabilities by the average amount of time it takes to get a patent issued.   The time it takes to get a patent from filing to issuance is largely dependent upon a number of factors

Comparing Florida Patent Case Timetables

  How do patent cases in Florida compare to the rest of the nation in terms of time from filing to decision?   Well, a lot depends upon whether the case seeks a bench trial or a jury trial as patent cases terminated by bench trials take much longer than cases terminated by jury trials.   According to LegalMetric, LLC, the average patent bench trial nationwide took 37.8 months compared to 27.1 months for a jury trial.   Here is how the numbers looked for patent cases in Florida:   Northern District of Florida 31.1 Months for bench trials; no data available on jury trials   Middle District of Florida 31.9 months for bench trials; 21.3 months for jury trials.   Southern District of Florida 34.3 months for bench trials; 34.8 months for jury trials.   Interestingly enough, trademark cases nationwide showed

Overview of the American Inventor’s Protection Act of 1999

If life were like the popular board game Monopoly��, obtaining meaningful patent protection would be as simple as buying up Boardwalk and Park Place. In the board game, you simply purchase the property you want, place houses or hotels on them over time, and eagerly collect a continual revenue stream from the successful venture.   The rules governing monopolies on ideas, however, are significantly more complex and have recently undergone one of the most far-reaching changes in history. As you mull over the unique features of your newly discovered invention or method of doing business, it is important to consider recent changes in patent law and their particular importance to individual inventors.   PUBLISHING OF APPLICATIONS If you are like most inventors, the thought of publicly disclosing the secret details of

Nine Costly Misconceptions About Patents

If life were like the popular board game Monopoly ��, obtaining meaningful patent protection would be as simple as buying up Boardwalk and Park Place. In the board game, you simply purchase the property you want, place houses or hotels on them over time, and eagerly collect a continual revenue stream from the successful venture.   The rules governing monopolies on ideas, however, are significantly more complex. As you mull over the unique features of your newly discovered invention or method of doing business, I want to dispel a number of common, yet potentially dangerous, misconceptions about patents:   Misconception No. 1: All of the good ideas have already been patented.   Fact: In 1899, U.S. Commissioner of Patents Charles H. Duell reportedly stated that “everything that can be invented has been invented.”

Turning to Patent Law to Protect Your Business Methods

When most people think of patents, they automatically think of a new mechanical product, a chemical composition, or a manufacturing process. Since a landmark Supreme Court decision in 1998, however, an increasing number of patents are being issued for innovations in business methods. Patents are not just reserved for classical scientific innovations anymore, but are regularly used by banks, stockbrokers, insurance companies, and retailers to protect their newly developed methods of doing business.   In the past, the U.S. Patent Office rarely granted business method patents. Additionally, software patents were not considered to be patentable subject matter because of a belief that software was nothing but an unprotectible algorithm. Today, however, patents are routinely applied for and issued for software and business metho

Protecting Software Through Patent Law

Patents, not copyrights, are now the only way to give adequate protection to the most important aspects of software. The is true because the “idea” behind a particular algorithm is much better protected as a patentable method than as a narrowly limited expression in copyright law.   Most software designers are interested in preventing others from stealing the core methodology used in their software. As such, a patent on the software should be obtained. The principal benefit of protecting computer software through the patent system is the strength of protection that is provided by a patent.   In the past, the U.S. Patent Office rarely granted software patents, believing that they were nothing but mathematical algorithms and did not meet the statutory subject matter requirements for patent protection. Software related inven

Beyond the Hype: A Rational Look at Internet Patents

E-commerce patents have attracted a lot of attention in the news lately and the U.S. Patent Office is facing criticism, once again, relating to their examination and issuance of patents relating to a revolutionary new technology.   I say “once again” because this is not the first time a new technological development has stirred up controversy at the U.S. Patent Office. Over a century ago, there was severe criticism relating to   the granting of agricultural inventions. This was followed by debates about the patenting of the telephone, the automobile, pharmaceutical drugs and the recent criticism of the biotechnology industry. With this historical backdrop, it is little wonder that the development of the Internet has spawned another patenting debate.   The term “Internet patent” or “e-co

Understanding the Limitations of a Design Patent

Inventors can obtain three different types of patents in the United States, namely, plant patents, utility patents, and design patents. Plant patents are rare and are used to protect a new plant that the inventor has produced asexually (without using seeds). A utility patent can be used to protect the way a new technology functions and is used. A design patent protects the visual characteristics of an item.   There is often confusion among inexperienced entrepreneurs and inventors regarding the differences between utility and design patent protection. It is important to understand that a design patent protects only the appearance of an article and not its structural or functional features. It is different than a utility patent because it offers no protection for the way an article works and can only protect the unique visual 

Florida Atlantic University Awarded Patent on Software

A patent has been awarded to Florida Atlantic University Professor Stuart Galup for a new software-based system for assisting local government departments in overseeing guardianship cases according to an article in the Boca Raton News. According to the article, this was the first patent associated with Florida Atlantic University to originate with the College of Business. The fact that the article points this out as being significant shows that patents are still seen by many as being in the exclusive realm of engineering colleges not business schools. A number of patents for software-based innovations and business methods have been granted to Florida patent holders recently. As I point out in my article entitled “Turning to Patent Law to Protect Your Business Methods“, most people automatically think of patents as c