Patent It Yourself - PDF Archive

Your Legal COMPANION | 5
E. New Material in the Fifteenth Edition
In the fifteenth edition, you’ll find information about:
• new standards for process or method claims as
established in the Supreme Court’s Bilski v. Kappos
(2010)
• searching techniques for the PTO’s EAST/PubWEST
Search systems
• updated Google Patent Search information
• new eFiling procedures at the PTO
• venture capital funding
• changing legal trends that disfavor independent
inventors
• public citation of prior art
• revised continuation rules
• patent trolls and submarine patents
• new design patent infringement standards as
established in the Egyptian Goddess, Inc. v. Swisa, Inc.
case.
F. How to Use Patent It Yourself
The book is organized primarily for chronological use,
starting with an overview of the entire intellectual property
field (which includes patents, trademarks, copyright, and
trade secret law). Then it sequentially covers the steps most
inventors will take to monopolize and profit from their
inventions. I strongly recommend that you first read the
book all the way through, skimming lightly over the many
chapters that actually tell you how to do things.
In this way you’ll first get an overview of the patent forest
before you return and deal with the individual steps (trees)
necessary to fully protect your invention.
Throughout the book I refer to a number of forms and
in many instances reproduce them in the text. A tear-out
or copyable version of each is also located in Appendix 7
for your use, and all PTO forms can be downloaded from
the PTO website. If you don’t have Internet access, I recommend
that you make photocopies of PTO forms so you’ll have
ample spares for drafts and extra copies for your records.
Also throughout the book I refer to various statutes
and governmental administrative rules, mostly in the
patent area. I use standard forms of legal citation; these are
interpreted as follows:
• 35 USC 102 = Title 35 of the U.S. Code, Section 102
• 37 CFR 1.111 = Title 37 of the (U.S.) Code of Federal
Regulations, Section 1.111.
Title 35 of the U.S. Code (USC) contains all of the
federal patent statutes and Title 37 of the U.S. Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) contains all of the federal
administrative rules issued by the Patent and Trademark
Office and Copyright Office that deal with patents, trademarks,
and copyright matters. Part 1 of 37 CFR is concerned with
patents. Thus Patent Rule 111 = 37 CFR 1.111.
In addition to the Patent Rules, the PTO publishes much
more information on the patent process in its Manual of
Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP), which is available
online. Both the U.S. Code and the CFR are available in any
law library and online as part of the MPEP, as indicated in
Appendixes 2 and 5, Resources: Government Publications,
Patent Websites, and Books of Use and Interest; and Mail,
Telephone, Fax, and Email Communications With the PTO.
I’ve used many abbreviations throughout Patent It Yourself
to save space and spare you the tedium of repeatedly reading
long phrases. I’ve tried to define each abbreviation the first
time I’ve used it and again if there is a long break before it is
used again. If at any time you need to refresh your memory
about a particular abbreviation, please refer to Appendix 1,
Abbreviations Used in Patent It Yourself.
Appendix 3 provides two dictionaries. The first is a list of
technical terms used in the preparation of patent applications
(Glossary of Useful Technical Terms). The second list
provides definitions for many of the terms used throughout
this book (Glossary of Legal Terms).
The law is constantly changing. We try to update the
important changes in each printing, but in the meantime
you can get updates at www.patentityourself.com and www.
nolo.com.
Welcome to the world of intellectual property! Good luck
and successful inventing!
l