|
Welcome to the February edition of the SLPG Newsletter!
This month's newsletter is full of information from the world of intellectual property, all covered in chocolate! Since February is National Chocolate Month, this month we thought we would inspire our inventive clientele by showing some fun ways chocolate relates to patents. "Chocolate" patents are often protected as "recipe" patents, which fall under the broader category of "process" patents (for an article on process and recipe patents, see Intellectual Property News).
February is also the month for Presidents' Day. Presidents play a role in intellectual property, as one of the President's jobs is to appoint, by the advice and consent of the Senate, the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Abraham Lincoln understood the value of the patent system, for example, Lincoln was the only President to patent his own invention (see Patent Tidbits).
Other topics covered in this month's newsletter include an in-depth look at our collaborative "team" approach to patent claim drafting (see below), an introduction to our newest team member, Matt Bycer (see Staff News), and a fully-UNOFFICIAL "Recipe" for a Non-provisional Patent.
Our "Team" Approach for Claim Drafting
Our team strategy at SLPG emphasizes collaboration among our professional staff for problem-solving and for completing tasks relating to authorized patent law "jobs" (see our website for more information on patent law "jobs"). Our "team" approach to patent claim drafting is an example of one of our collaborative efforts.
When a patent application "job" has been authorized by one of our clients, our firm carries out a prior art search in which we search various patent databases and web search engines for prior art most closely matching the client's invention. Following the prior art search, one of our staff members presents the closest prior art to the rest of the team at a team meeting. During this meeting, our team prepares a functional and structural analysis of the closest prior art as compared to the client's invention. This allows us to identify the novel elements of the invention.
Once the novel elements have been identified, we then collaboratively draft the broadest claim covering at least one novel aspect of the client's invention. Rather than relying on one person's point of view, our "team" approach to claim drafting draws on the diverse expertise and creativity of our professional staff. Our staff backgrounds range from legal backgrounds to highly technical backgrounds, thus providing higher quality patent protection to our clients.
A New Addition to Our Team
We are excited to announce that Matt Bycer, an experienced patent attorney, has recently joined SLPG (see below).
|
 Staff News
Matt's Bio: 
Matt Bycer earned degrees in physics and business-economics at Brown University before embarking upon a career as a technical consultant for Accenture. At Accenture, he worked on large software installation projects, working with ERP solutions such as SAP and Oracle for large corporate clients such as GE, BSC and EMC2.
Eying a career in patent law, Matt returned to Arizona to earn a joint JD/MBA from the University of Arizona, where he worked in the physical sciences department of the Office of Technology Transfer. Matt also externed in the chambers of Chief Judge Stephen M. McNamee, District Court of Arizona and assisted in the resolution of a complex patent litigation dispute in the field of aeronautics. Matt's experience includes patent consulting and patent landscaping, and Matt ran an exploratory patent research project involving optical disk storage technologies. Matt has years of experience in patents and intellectual property at a top-rated intellectual property (IP) boutique where he was involved in obtaining, defending and enforcing IP. At Stoneman Law Patent Group, Matt will help our firm in supporting small and growing businesses, using IP to improve the competitive positioning of our clients. Matt is a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and a life member of Sigma Xi scientific research society. Matt has enjoyed a short stint as a rugby player, and he currently enjoys skiing, golf and gardening.
|
|
Patent Tidbits
Great Patents in History
1. Chocolate Product and Process
Inventor: JOHN J. O'ROURKE AND RIVER FORREST, III.
Assignor: MARS, INC.
Patent number: 2,904,438
Filing date: April 9, 1956
Issue date: September 15, 1959 |
Intellectual Property News
What are Process Patents?
Claims for process inventions include a list of steps to either use or manufacture an item in a new and innovative way. Process patents have a great deal of importance in software methods and medical inventions. And this is where step-wise recipe patents, such as chocolate (see below), may be classified.
Business Methods
Business method patents are a hot topic in patent law and continue to be shaped by the Courts. Very generally, in order to be patentable, business methods must create a useful, concrete, and tangible result. Many business method patents integrate applications of software with business applications. If the software enables an advantageous new method of doing business, protecting the software may be one way to protect business methods, thus providing intellectual property protection for software-implemented business methods.
Recipe Patents
Recipe patents also fall under the category of process patents, since recipes describe the steps involved in preparing a food (i.e. mixing, heating, blending, etc). In order to be eligible for a recipe patent, the recipe might describe detailed steps for the preparation of a new food or a hitherto unknown food. If the recipe describes a new food, the new food may also be separately protected as a new product.
Recipe Patents for Chocolate
Below are highlighted some recipe patents for new types of chocolate:
-In 1883, the Patent Office granted a patent for a process for the manufacture of dipped chocolate candies.
-In 1892, the Patent Office granted a patent for a process for preparing chocolate milk without boiling.
-In 1913, the Patent Office granted a patent for a process of carameling chocolate.
-In 1940, the Patent Office granted a patent for a product and process for making an improved chocolate that is "substantially free from surface discoloration" and "does not soften as readily as normal chocolate throughout the hot summer months. . . ."
-In 1992, the Patent Office granted a patent for a product and process for producing a low density chocolate composition that is substantially sucrose-free and tastes and has a feel like milk chocolate.
|
|
"Recipe" for a Non-Provisional Patent
Ingredients:
An invention which provides a new, useful, and non-obvious process, article of manufacture, machine, composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof
Preparation:
1) Prepare claims by writing one or more legal definitions defining the invention.
2) Prepare the specification by teaching the invention so that a person with ordinary skill in the art will be able to re-create the invention without undue experimentation. This preparation usually requires one or more drawings illustrating the invention.
3) Prepare the non-provisional patent application by mixing well all the ingredients of specification, drawings, and claims.
Baking Directions:
1) Submit the non-provisional patent application to the United States Patent & Trademark Office "oven" (by mail, internet submission, or facsimile) and let bake at a low, slow temperature.
2) Within about two months of baking, you will receive from the "oven" an official Filing Receipt containing the filing date, title, inventor(s) and Serial Number and other pertinent information concerning the status of your ingredients.
3) Within 18 months of baking, your non-provisional patent application will be ready to turn and will usually be made publicly available.
4) After about 1-3 years of baking, you will typically receive from the "oven" a notice of possible burning in the form of an Office Action which requires a response and fees.
5) You must then re-set the "oven" to "respond to Office Action" within 3-6 months.
6) Steps 4) and 5) may be repeated as necessary until the ingredients are almost full-baked and a Notice of Allowance and/or Allowability is received from the "oven" confirming the almost fully-baked condition.
7) Within about a week to a few months following submission of your Notice of Allowance with issue fees to the "oven", your certificate that you now have a fully-baked patent will be issued.
8) You may now remove your recipe product from the "oven" and enjoy for 3.5 years, when "oven" maintenance fees are required in order to keep your recipe product. Repeat this step at 7.5 years and at 11.5 years.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Visit us at:
patentdoc.com
Our Offices:
Phoenix
3724 N. 3rd St.
Suite 200
Phoenix, AZ 85012
San Diego
501 W. Broadway St.
Suite 800
San Diego, CA 92101
Tel: (888) 252-2200
Fax: (877) 786-6362
|
Do you need to update your contact information?
Click here |
|
