Paul asks…
How can the Patent Office prevent inventors from becoming a monopoly?
“One of the most ridiculous government enterprises is the Patent Office. It permits inventors of new processes and products to create monopolies, when we know very well that monopolies reduce output, raise prices and in other ways gouge the public.”
Andrew answers:
Patents are there in order to encourage investment in research or else someone may not bother doing expensive research if someone else can just steal their ideas.
They do run out after a few years and other inventors might innovate upon the original getting a new patent.
A patent is not necessarily results in a monopoly since companies can sometimes trade rights to use each other patents but that is usually somethings large businesses do with each other. An individual might make something in his garage and have a monopoly… but so what.
Carol asks…
Why won’t the US Patent Office grant patents for unique ideas?
I came up with a very unique idea which has absolutely no relationship to anything on the market and is considered “inventive” by those in the field, but the US Patent and Trademark Office refuses to grant me a patent. Why is that?
Andrew answers:
From the US Patent and Trademark Office web site:
“A patent cannot be obtained upon a mere idea or suggestion. The patent is granted upon the new machine, manufacture, etc., as has been said, and not upon the idea or suggestion of the new machine. A complete description of the actual machine or other subject matter for which a patent is sought is required.”
Sharon asks…
How do the patent office know if something has been kept secret or not?
If only a few people knew of your idea, surely you could go through with the application, as it is unlikely the office would contact the few people who know. What could the consequences be, should that be the case?
And if an idea was to change slightly, (perhaps entirely to facilitate its patent) because patents have to be so specific, could it be argued that now the object has changed sufficiently and therefore is no longer the same as the one people may have seen?
Andrew answers:
The following answer pertains to United States patents, but the situation regarding patents is similar in other countries. This is a very general answer, and doesn’t go into specifics or exceptional situations. You should NOT take this as legal advice. In fact, you should never try to obtain a patent without retaining the services of a qualified patent practitioner.
The patent office doesn’t contact people to find out if they know about your invention. They do a search of published documents of all sorts to see if anyone has already taught your claimed invention, or whether there is enough information already known to make your invention obvious. If they can’t find evidence that your claimed invention is anticipated or obvious, you’ll probably be able to patent your invention.
However, if someone knows or finds out that you weren’t the real inventor, or that people knew about your invention before you applied for a patent, they could go to court and try to invalidate one or more claims of your patent. (There are a great many other grounds on which a patent can be attacked, but I think you’re just interested in these issues.) A U.S. patent (but not patents issued by most other countries) could still be valid even if you revealed your invention to other people before you applied for the patent, as long as your invention wasn’t known to the public more than a year before you filed your application.
To answer your second question, if your claimed invention includes a feature that is significantly different or an improvement over an old invention (or a previously known invention), then yes, you can get a patent on the new or improved invention. However, your patent would only cover products that included that improvement or novel feature.
Steven asks…
patent office?
What exactly do the people do there?
Andrew answers:
They look at patent applications and review pre-existing applications and patented inventions. They make sure the technology in a new application is patentable — novel and non-obvious.
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