1. Welcome to the IEEE IPR Office’s Patents Tutorial

2. Click to Continue This Tutorial will introduce you to the history of patents and their characteristics, and will offer useful advice to consider when applying for a patent.

3. What is a Patent?

4. A patent is a grant by the government of exclusive intellectual property rights that allow a patent owner to stop others from taking advantage of the invention that is covered by the patent’s claims and supported by the patent’s specifications. Click to Continue

5. Early 15 th Century Senate of Venice enacts a 10-year exclusive privilege on machines or processes which was granted by the Guild Welfare Board of the Republic. Protections were extended to silkmaking, flour and grain mills, cook stoves and printing. 1558 First elements of a modern patent system begins in England. Patents for a dredging machine, and the making of soap, alum, and saltpeter were granted. 1787 U.S. Constitutional Convention includes the clause “to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors, exclusive rights to their respective rights and discoveries.” 1790 Patent Act of 1790 establishes an examination system. 1793 Patent Act of 1793 establishes a registration system similar to the English system of that time. 1836 Patent Act of 1836 establishes the U.S. Patent Office, charged with the examination of the novelty, utility, and importance of an invention. Also establishes the office of the Commisioner of Patents. 1952 Patent Act of 1952 authorizes the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to issue its own Rules of Practice (how the USPTO operates procedurally, substantially, and financially) Timeline Patent History The following are important dates in the development of the modern patent system. Click to proceed along the timeline. 1883 Paris Union Convention established an international patent treaty that remains in force today in most industrialized nations, covering approximately 190 countries. 1978 The Patent Cooperation Treaty is enacted in an effort to help reduce the time and money involved in obtaining worldwide patent protection under the Paris Convention.

6. Types of Patents

7. Click to Continue Utility (article/apparatus) Method (or process) Protects new machines, articles of manufacture and compositions of matter Covers the novel process or steps which transfer material from one state to another. Recently extended protection now covers methods of doing business and computer-related inventions Types of Patents

8. Design Plant Granted to one who invents or asexually reproduces any new or distinct variety of plant Granted for any new, original, ornamental, and non- functional design of an article of manufacture Patents have also included algorithms in computer programs, as well as biotechnology creations such as DNA strands Click to Continue

9. What Can Be Patented? Click to Continue The following must be true in order for an invention to be patented It must fall within one of the categories of patentable subject matter It must be useful, novel, and unobvious A process patent can be obtained on known apparatus or composition if a new use for the apparatus or composition is discovered

10. What CanBe Patented? Not Business forms Promotional advertisement schemes Anticipated results of desired goals Functions without any apparatus to perform the function Nebulous or abstract concepts or ideas Items or processes occurring in nature or created by someone earlier Laws of nature Click to Continue

11. Anatomy of a Patent

12. Title of Patent Names of the Inventor(s) Owner of the Patent Application date The following are key items that are included in a patent Patent Number Anatomy of a Patent Click to Continue

13. Statements to explain: the field of technology to which the invention relates the background of the invention problems that the invention will solve Summary of: the invention its elements how they relate to each other how they function how they will meet the objectives described in the Statements Anatomy of a Patent Click to Continue

14. Description of the drawings Anatomy of a Patent Click to Continue

15. Claims to the invention by the applicant Anatomy of a Patent

16. What to Consider When Applying for a Patent

17. Questions to Consider What is the effect the invention will have on the inventor’s ability to profit? Does a market exist, or can one be created, for the product or process? From what countries will patents need to be obtained in order to protect the invention? Is the public ready for the invention? Click to Continue

18. Important Facts to Consider Owning a patent on an invention does not confer a right to make, sell, offer to sell, or import the invention. What is granted is the right to exclude others from doing so A patent is not self-enforcing. The government issues the patent, but will not take any positive action on behalf of the patent owner to enforce the inventor’s rights established by the patent A patent and the information it contains cannot be kept secret, nor suppressed U.S. patents cannot be enforced internationally. But they may be used to stop importation of products into the U.S. which infringe upon the patents. Click to Continue

19. Howard Rockman is a patent attorney currently practicing with Reed Smith LLP in Chicago. He is also an adjunct professor at John Marshall Law School and at the University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Engineering. Replete with sample forms of pertinent documents, and helpful points to consider regarding all aspects of intellectual property law, Intellectual Property Law for Engineers and Scientists provides valuable information that all high tech professional should read to protect themselves against potential loss or liability. Also included are interesting essays on famous inventors and their inventions. The book can be purchased through John Wiley and Sons and Amazon.comJohn Wiley and SonsAmazon.com Information presented in this tutorial was taken from Intellectual Property Law for Engineering and Scientists by Howard B. Rockman, which is published by IEEE Press. About the Tutorial

20. IEEE IPR Office www.ieee.org/copyrights (732) 562-3966 copyrights@ieee.org www.ieee.org/copyrights The IEEE IPR Office staff is available to answer any questions you may have about information provided in this tutorial. Additional Information Click to Continue

21. Additional Information Web sites for additional information on patents The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is a federal agency in the US Department of Commerce whose responsibilities include administering the laws relating to patents and trademarks www.uspto.gov/main/patents.htm World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an agency of the United Nations that administers 23 international treaties dealing with different aspects of intellectual property protection. www.wipo.int/patentscope/en/patents.html Click to Continue

22. The IPR Tutorial Series For other tutorials on IPR-related topics, such as Click to Continue Trademarks Copyrights Plagiarism Please visit the IEEE IPR Office web site www.ieee.org/copyrights/tutorials

23. Copyright © 2008 IEEE This concludes the IEEE IPR Office Patents Tutorial. We hope it helped to provide a better understanding of patents.