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Incredible Utility
In United States patent law, incredible utility is a concept according to which, in order for an invention to be patentable, it must have some credible useful function. If it does not have a credible useful function despite the assertions of the inventor, then the application for patent can be rejected as having "incredible utility". The invention does not have to work the way the inventor thinks it works, but it must do something useful. Patents that have been held invalid for incredible utility include: * an invention asserted to change the taste of food using a magnetic field (''Fregeau v. Mossinghoff'', 776 F.2d 1034, 227 USPQ 848 (Fed. Cir. 1985)), * a perpetual motion machine (''Newman v. Quigg'', 877 F.2d 1575, 11 USPQ2d 1340 (Fed. Cir. 1989)), * a flying machine operating on "flapping or flutter function" (''In re Houghton'', 433 F.2d 820, 167 USPQ 687 (CCPA 1970)), * a cold fusion process for producing energy (''In re Swartz'', 232 F.3d 862, 56 USPQ2d 1703, (Fed. Cir. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Patent Law
Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited time (usually, 20 years) from profiting of a patented technology without the consent of the patent-holder. Specifically, it is the right to exclude others from: making, using, selling, offering for sale, importing, inducing others to infringe, applying for an FDA approval, and/or offering a product specially adapted for practice of the patent. United States patent law is codified in Title 35 of the United States Code, and authorized by the U.S. Constitution, in Article One, section 8, clause 8, which states: Patent law is designed to encourage inventors to disclose their new technology to the world by offering the incentive of a limited-time monopoly on the technology. For U.S. utility patents, this limited-time term of pate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patentable
Within the context of a national or multilateral body of law, an invention is patentable if it meets the relevant legal conditions to be granted a patent. By extension, patentability also refers to the substantive conditions that must be met for a patent to be held valid. Requirements The patent laws usually require that, for an invention to be patentable, it must be: * Patentable subject matter, i.e., a kind of subject-matter eligible for patent protection * Novel (i.e. at least some aspect of it must be new) * Non-obvious (in United States patent law) or involve an inventive step (in European patent law) * Useful (in U.S. patent law) or be susceptible of industrial application (in European patent law) Usually the term "''patentability''" only refers to "substantive" conditions, and does not refer to formal conditions such as the " sufficiency of disclosure", the "unity of invention" or the " best mode requirement". Judging patentability is one aspect of the official exa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perpetual Motion
Perpetual motion is the motion of bodies that continues forever in an unperturbed system. A perpetual motion machine is a hypothetical machine that can do work infinitely without an external energy source. This kind of machine is impossible, as it would violate either the first or second law of thermodynamics or both. These laws of thermodynamics apply regardless of the size of the system. For example, the motions and rotations of celestial bodies such as planets may appear perpetual, but are actually subject to many processes that slowly dissipate their kinetic energy, such as solar wind, interstellar medium resistance, gravitational radiation and thermal radiation, so they will not keep moving forever. Thus, machines that extract energy from finite sources will not operate indefinitely, because they are driven by the energy stored in the source, which will eventually be exhausted. A common example is devices powered by ocean currents, whose energy is ultimately derived f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cold Fusion
Cold fusion is a hypothesized type of nuclear reaction that would occur at, or near, room temperature. It would contrast starkly with the "hot" fusion that is known to take place naturally within stars and artificially in hydrogen bombs and prototype fusion reactors under immense pressure and at temperatures of millions of degrees, and be distinguished from muon-catalyzed fusion. There is currently no accepted theoretical model that would allow cold fusion to occur. In 1989, two electrochemists, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, reported that their apparatus had produced anomalous heat ("excess heat") of a magnitude they asserted would defy explanation except in terms of nuclear processes. They further reported measuring small amounts of nuclear reaction byproducts, including neutrons and tritium. ("It is inconceivable that this mount of heatcould be due to anything but nuclear processes... We realise that the results reported here raise more questions than they provide a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Person Of Ordinary Skill In The Art
A person having ordinary skill in the art (abbreviated PHOSITA), a person of (ordinary) skill in the art (POSITA or PSITA), a person skilled in the art, a skilled addressee or simply a skilled person is a legal fiction found in many patent laws throughout the world. This hypothetical person is considered to have the normal skills and knowledge in a particular technical field (an "art"), without being a genius. The person mainly serves as a reference for determining, or at least evaluating, whether an invention is non-obvious or not (in U.S. patent law), or involves an inventive step or not (in European patent laws). If it would have been obvious for this fictional person to come up with the invention while starting from the prior art, then the particular invention is considered not patentable. In some patent laws, the person skilled in the art is also used as a reference in the context of other criteria, for instance in order to determine whether an invention is sufficiently d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Industrial Applicability
In certain jurisdictions' patent law, industrial applicability or industrial application is a patentability requirement according to which a patent can only be granted for an invention which is susceptible of industrial application, i.e. for an invention which can be made or used in some kind of industry. In this context, the concept of "industry" is far-reaching: it includes agriculture, for instance. An example of invention which would ''not'' be susceptible of industrial application is "a method of contraception ..to be applied in the private and personal sphere of a human being". In United States patent law, the utility requirement is a more or less corresponding, but different, requirement. Jurisdictions European Patent Convention Under the European Patent Convention (EPC), the requirement that an invention must be susceptible of industrial application to be patentable means that the invention "can be made or used in any kind of industry, including agriculture". In decis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sufficiency Of Disclosure
Sufficiency of disclosure or enablement is a patent law requirement that a patent application disclose a claimed invention in sufficient detail so that the person skilled in the art could carry out that claimed invention. The requirement is fundamental to patent law: a monopoly is granted for a given period of time in exchange for a disclosure to the public how to make or practice the invention. Background The disclosure requirement lies at the heart and origin of patent law. An inventor, or the inventor's assignee, is granted a monopoly for a given period of time in exchange for the inventor disclosing to the public how to make or practice their invention. If a patent fails to contain such information, then the bargain is violated, and the patent is unenforceable or can be revoked. Jurisdictions Europe Article 83 of the European Patent Convention states that an application must ''disclose the invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for it to be carried out by a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cold Fusion
Cold fusion is a hypothesized type of nuclear reaction that would occur at, or near, room temperature. It would contrast starkly with the "hot" fusion that is known to take place naturally within stars and artificially in hydrogen bombs and prototype fusion reactors under immense pressure and at temperatures of millions of degrees, and be distinguished from muon-catalyzed fusion. There is currently no accepted theoretical model that would allow cold fusion to occur. In 1989, two electrochemists, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, reported that their apparatus had produced anomalous heat ("excess heat") of a magnitude they asserted would defy explanation except in terms of nuclear processes. They further reported measuring small amounts of nuclear reaction byproducts, including neutrons and tritium. ("It is inconceivable that this mount of heatcould be due to anything but nuclear processes... We realise that the results reported here raise more questions than they provide a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perpetual Motion
Perpetual motion is the motion of bodies that continues forever in an unperturbed system. A perpetual motion machine is a hypothetical machine that can do work infinitely without an external energy source. This kind of machine is impossible, as it would violate either the first or second law of thermodynamics or both. These laws of thermodynamics apply regardless of the size of the system. For example, the motions and rotations of celestial bodies such as planets may appear perpetual, but are actually subject to many processes that slowly dissipate their kinetic energy, such as solar wind, interstellar medium resistance, gravitational radiation and thermal radiation, so they will not keep moving forever. Thus, machines that extract energy from finite sources will not operate indefinitely, because they are driven by the energy stored in the source, which will eventually be exhausted. A common example is devices powered by ocean currents, whose energy is ultimately derived f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scientific Skepticism
Scientific skepticism or rational skepticism (also spelled scepticism), sometimes referred to as skeptical inquiry, is a position in which one questions the veracity of claims lacking empirical evidence. In practice, the term most commonly references the examination of claims and theories that appear to be beyond mainstream science, rather than the routine discussions and challenges among scientists. Scientific skepticism differs from philosophical skepticism, which questions humans' ability to claim any knowledge about the nature of the world and how they perceive it, and the similar but distinct methodological skepticism, which is a systematic process of being skeptical about (or doubting) the truth of one's beliefs. in The skeptical movement ( British spelling: sceptical movement) is a contemporary social movement based on the idea of scientific skepticism. The movement has the goal of investigating claims made on fringe topics and determining whether they are supported ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Evidence Law
The following Outline (list), outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to evidence law in the United States: Evidence law in the United States – sets forth the areas of contention that generally arise in the presentation of Evidence (law), evidence in Trial (law), trial proceedings in the United States, U.S. Relevance *Relevance (law), Relevance *Public policy doctrines for the exclusion of relevant evidence *Legal burden of proof, Burden of proof Types of evidence *Testimony **Foundation (evidence), Laying a foundation **Eyewitness identification **Character evidence **Habit evidence **Similar fact evidence *Documentary evidence **Authentication (law), Authentication **Best evidence rule **Self-authenticating documents **Ancient documents **Parol evidence rule *Physical evidence **Chain of custody *Real evidence *Digital evidence *Exculpatory evidence *Scientific evidence (law), Scientific evidence **Genetic fingerprinting#DNA evidence as evidence in crimi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
