Its not obvious it has to be sufficiently different

• It’s not obvious . It has to be sufficiently different from everything that’s
been used for the purpose in the past (you can’t patent a new color for
a cell phone).
• It has utility . It can’t be useless; it must have some value.
Applying for a U.S. patent is only the first step. If you plan to export your product
outside the United States, you’ll need patent protection in each country in which
you plan to do business, and as you’ve no doubt guessed, getting a foreign patent
isn’t any easier than getting a U.S. patent. The process keeps lawyers busy: during a
three-year period, PowerSki International had to take out more than eighty patents
17. Grant of the exclusive right to
produce or sell a product,
process, or invention.
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on the PowerSki Jetboard. It still has a long way to go to match the number of
patents issued to some extremely large corporations. Microsoft, for example,
recently obtained its ten thousandth patent.Ina Fried, “Microsoft Gets 10,000th
Patent,” CNET News ,
(accessed October 28, 2011).
Clearly, the patent business is booming. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
issued more than a half million patents in 2010.U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,
(accessed October 29, 2011).
One reason for the recent proliferation of patents is the high-tech boom: over the
last decade, the number of patents granted has increased by more than 50 percent.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• You can protect your rights to your idea with a patent from the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office.
• A patent grants you “the right to exclude others from making, using,
offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States for
twenty years.
• To be patentable, an invention must meet all the following criteria: it’s
new (no one else can have known about it, used it, or written about it
before you filed your patent application); it’s not obvious (it’s
sufficiently different from everything that’s been used for the purpose
in the past); and it has utility (it must have some value; it can’t be
useless).
EXERCISE
(AACSB) Analysis
A friend of yours described a product idea she had been working on. It is a
child’s swing set with a sensor to stop the swing if anyone walks in front of
it. She came to you for advice on protecting her product idea. What
questions would you need to ask her to determine whether her product idea
is patentable? How would she apply for a patent? What protection would the
patent give her? How long would the patent apply?
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10.9 Cases and Problems
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LEARNING ON THE WEB (AACSB)
Breaking Even on Burgers
You and your business partner plan to open a gourmet burger restaurant.
Your partner estimated the new business will sell a hundred fifty thousand
burgers during its first year and a half of operations. You want to determine
the number of burgers you must sell to break even during this period.