Projector is a 19th-century term in
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 ...
meaning the original true inventor. "True inventor" at the time meant the first inventor to
reduce an invention to practice.
As a synonym for
promoter, e.g. in the phrase "railway projectors", the term was used in a derogatory fashion in a 1790 document. In that discussion of needed changes in the patent act, 'projector' described someone who overzealously promotes an invention.
[Frank D. Prager, "Proposals for the Patent Act of 1790", ''Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society'', March 1954, vol XXXVI, No. 3, pp 157 et Seq.]
See also
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Corporate promoter
A corporate promoter is a firm or person who does the preliminary work related to the formation of a company, including its promotion, incorporation, and flotation, and solicits people to invest money in the company, usually when it is being f ...
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Inventor (patent)
In patent law, an inventor is the person, or persons in United States patent law, who contribute to the claim (patent), claims of a patentability, patentable invention. In some patent law frameworks, however, such as in the European Patent Convent ...
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Patent medicine
A patent medicine, sometimes called a proprietary medicine, is an over-the-counter (nonprescription) medicine or medicinal preparation that is typically protected and advertised by a trademark and trade name (and sometimes a patent) and claimed ...
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Patent troll
In international law and business, patent trolling or patent hoarding is a categorical or pejorative term applied to a person or company that attempts to enforce patent rights against accused infringers far beyond the patent's actual value or ...
References
United States patent law
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