Nolo's Patents for Beginners

by Pressman, David; Stim, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780873375757
• ISBN10: 0873375750
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-06-01
• Publisher: Nolo

Author Biography

David Pressman has over 40 years of experience in the patent profession -- as a patent attorney, an examiner for the U.S. Patent Office and a university instructor Rich Stim is an intellectual property and licensing attorney

Table of Contents

Introduction
Organization of Text	2	(1)
Icon Used in This Book	3	(1)
1 Patents and Intellectual Property Law
What Is a Patent?	3	(1)
The Three Types of Patents	4	(1)
Patent Rights	5	(1)
The Requirements for Obtaining a Patent	5	(1)
How Long Do Patent Rights Last?	6	(1)
How Patent Rights Can Be Lost	7	(1)
Intellectual Property---The Big Picture	7	(1)
Trademarks	8	(1)
Copyright	9	(3)
Trade Secrets	12	(4)
Unfair Competition	16
2 Qualifying for a Patent
Legal Requirements for a Utility Patent	2	(1)
Statutory Classes	3	(4)
Utility	7	(2)
Novelty and Prior Art	9	(8)
Nonobviousness	17	(8)
Legal Requirements for a Design Patent	25	(1)
Legal Requirements for a Plant Patent	25
3 Invention Documentation
The Importance of Documentation	2	(1)
Lab Notebook	3	(3)
Invention Disclosure	6	(1)
Documenting Conception: Disclosure Document Program (DDP)	6	(2)
Documenting Reduction to Practice: Provisional Patent Application	8	(1)
Trade Secret Considerations	9
4 Patent Searching
Principles of Patent Searching	2	(1)
Hiring a Patent Searcher	3	(2)
Do It Yourself Searching	5
5 Reading and Writing Patents
Elements of a Patent	3	(1)
Specification	3	(10)
Claims	13	(5)
Abstract	18	(1)
Drawings	19	(3)
Preparation of a Patent Application	22
6 Patent Prosecution and the PTO
Patent Prosecution: The Road to Allowance	2	(10)
Responding to a Final Office Action	12	(2)
Additional Application Issues	14	(2)
Design Patent Prosecution	16
7 Patent Ownership
The Inventor Is Intial Owner of Patent Rights	2	(1)
Employee Inventions	2	(5)
Joint Owners	7
8 Patent Infringement
What Is Patent Infringement?	3	(4)
Who Can Sue, Who Can Be Sued?	7	(1)
Stopping Patent Infringement	8	(5)
Defenses to Patent Infringement	13	(4)
Ending Disputes Without a Lawsuit	17
9 International Patent Law
Introduction to Foreign Patent Treaties and Laws	2	(4)
Putting It Together: The Most Common Route for U.S. Inventors Seeking Foreign Patent Coverage	6	(1)
The Paris Convention and the One-Year Foreign Filing Rule	6	(2)
The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)	8	(3)
European Patent Office (EPO)	11	(1)
Locating Foreign Patent Agents	12
10 Help Beyond This Book
Inventor Resources	2	(1)
Patents and Intellectual Property Resources	3	(3)
Working With an Attorney	6
Glossary
Index