The Bizarro World of Patenting
Those of you who, like me, are fans of the show Seinfeld may remember an episode where Jerry and Elaine encounter a mirror world of charactres who are direct opposites of Jerry and his friends Kramer and George (and even Neuman). Jerry descirbes this as the Bizarro world. In this world everything is opposite from its usual form including apartment layouts, people and even greetings "he says hello when he leaves and goodby when he arrives".
To many inventors the world of patents has the characteristics of such a world. The precepts carefully taught in engineering school and the hard work engaged in to eliminate ambiguity in the invention are the opposite of what is needed to get a defensible patent.
This is true because to get a patent you must demonstrate that it is not "obvious to someone skilled in the art". I tell my clients that all the mistakes they made , all the blind alleys they went down are golden when it comes to getting a patent as they can be used by your attorney to demonstrate that their invention was not obvious.
When an inventor begins to form the idea of his/her invention he/she usually starts by combining elements of what is already known technology to create the solution to the problem he is trying to solve. If those pieces went together perfectly to solve the problem the patent law says that no invention was made. Then the inventor simply made use of the prior art to solve a problem.
Fortunately for most inventors, combining disparate elements to make something new seldom works the first time. New problems are discovered that make the pieces not fit in some important way , or the problem to be solved impacts the design so existing solutions don't work.
Consider the case of Thomas Edison. At the time of his invention there were many inventors following the same strategy to produce electric light. [Heat a filament of some conductor of electricity in a vacuum which will not allow the filament to oxidize and therefore produce an electric light.]
Unlike his competitors, Edison, realized that the real problem to be solved was to build a system, where electricity could be brought from a distance via wires to the house illuminated with electric lamps. An electricity distibution system was impractical with the low resistance bulbs that other inventors were using since those lamps required very large currents which in turn required very thick wires. Edison realized that a high resistance filament which required only low currents would solve this problem.
His next problem , was how to make such a filament. The filament needed not only to be high resistance but also to stand up to very high temperatures without melting. Edison tried over 2000 different materials before finding out that a carbonized shoelace did the trick. The trial and error procedure he went through conclusively demonstrates that the correct answer was not obvious. In fact this guesswork method is actually named the Edisonian method after him.
It is those new features introduced to solve unexpected problems such as Edisons high resistance filament and the choice of a material picked by trial and error from 2000 choices are the novel features that made Edisons invention patentable. So while you are inventing, keep carefull notes of blind alleys, mistakes and problems you solved along the way. They will be your best friends when you file for a patents
And if you need another friend to guide you through the patent jungle, contact us at www.alacartepatents.com
For only the third time since 1985, Ruth will not be going to the AALL (American Association of Law Libraries) conference, which is being held in Denver this year. However, just because she can't be there in person doesn't mean she'll be missing out on all the interesting things happening in the exhibit hall. Watch her newsletter, blog and LinkedIn sites for information from the vendors and more as she puts her own Trade Show Trade Show Follow-up™