Disclosing
information prior to patent filing
Read
the following statement taken from this article
and try to understand why this would not have been an appropriate protection
strategy for Amazon in Europe.
"Amazon
announced its Amazon.com Associates program on July 18, 1996, and filed
for patent protection on June 27, 1997 before filing for its initial public
offering, the application said."
Try
to retrieve the relevant patent document using esp@cenet.
Conducting
a prior art search in patent databases
You
want to develop the following product you consider as revolutionary:
A
system for guiding you automatically to the best located remaining place
when you enter a car park.
1.
What are your chances to obtain a patent covering this basic concept?
Use
this quick tutorial
to search patents relating to similar systems on the esp@cenet
database. Bear in mind that an invention must be new
and inventive
to be patentable.
2.
How can you explain that there are so many patent documents that seem to
cover the same invention?
Assessing
the value of a patent
1.
Assess the main weakness affecting the value of this granted
patent.
2.
Is the following patent
in force in Europe? Does it mean you are free to exploit this invention
in Europe? To answer the first question you may consult the European
Patent Register and read the following explanations.
3.
Try to use this assessment
form to explain why the granted patent EP507378
can be of great value for its holder. To check the scope of protection
of this patent you must read the claims of the patent.
Patent
Grant Procedure
1.
The following patent
has been filed by an individual without the help of a patent attorney.
Try to detect possible mistakes he has done considering these guidelines
and an example of patent
drafted by a patent attorney.
2.
Roland Moreno is the inventor of the "smart card". Try to find in which
countries he has sought protection using the patent
document relating to that invention and this explanantion
on patent families. Is this patent still valid?
3.
Try to retrieve the basic patent covering the iris
scanning concept using the inventor's names contained in this article.
Look at the first claim of the granted European patent (B1) to assess its
scope of protection. Using the above explanations on patent families try
to find out in which countries protection has been sought. Explain why
the owner of the following patent
relating to a system and method for aircraft passenger check-in
and boarding using iris recognition cannot manufacture and exploit an iris
scanner for his system even if he owns a patent including this device.
4.
British Technology has sued several service providers in the United States
using their patent
on hyperlinks. Why did they only take legal action in the USA and not
in Europe?
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