From: jlking@si.umich.edu
Date: Mon May 01 2000 - 11:52:31 PDT
Looks like a real opportunity for recursion. I'm filing a
patent on the process of creating processes for applying
for patents. With a little luck, we'll all be earning
a living by taking in each others' laundry.
JK
--On Mon, May 1, 2000 11:41 AM -0700 Rohit Khare <rohit@uci.edu> wrote:
> May 1, 2000
> PATENTS
>
> Product Designed to Ease Patent Process Wins Patent
> By SABRA CHARTRAND
>
> Patents that cover methods of doing business may be controversial,
> but perhaps only one patent is genuinely redundant. A Dallas company
> has won a patent for a method of applying for a patent.
>
> The company, Kernel Creations Ltd., says this is the first time the
> patent and trademark agency has awarded a patent for a technology for
> preparing a patent application. And it says that inventors have
> already been awarded patents based on applications prepared by use of
> the software.
>
> There are any number of how-to and do-it-yourself books and manuals
> offering inventors guidance through the patenting process. There are
> videos and software that advise applicants.
>
> Some people are skilled enough in the arcane language of patent
> applications to prepare their own; they can even produce technical
> drawings that meet the exacting standards of the patent and trademark
> agency. But applying for a patent is an ambitious undertaking that
> requires knowledge of patent law, agency regulations and examiners'
> procedures, as well as a draftsman's steady hand.
>
> If anecdotal evidence is any measure, many inventors who submit their
> own applications end up turning to a patent attorney or agent after
> their documents are rejected as inadequate. That requires the
> inventor to explain his invention to the attorney so the application
> can be made as legally binding as possible. And the lawyer's
> expertise costs money.
>
> James D. Petruzzi says inventors can avoid some of that trouble and
> expense with his software. Petruzzi is a patent attorney himself --
> but he does not believe his invention will harm those in the business.
>
> "We found in our practice that a lot of people don't have the
> resources to pay a patent attorney to go through the process, and
> they're being cut out," Petruzzi said. "This software enables a lot
> of people to get into the system and apply for patents."
>
> He also thinks the software will enable patent lawyers to avoid
> complications that can arise when they try to write a patent
> application without enough consultation with the inventor.
>
> "I've seen many patents drafted by attorneys, and once they got into
> litigation, I saw that the inventor was not involved in the drafting
> process, and that caused problems down the road," he explained.
>
> The software divides the task of writing a patent application into
> sections.
>
> "A patent application is sort of like a short story, not a
> fill-in-the-blanks process," Petruzzi said. "The software takes you
> through the sections of the application to build an entire document.
> It starts with a central analysis of the invention, and from that it
> generates other fields, claims and abstracts.
>
> "The real key to the patent and the process is the fact that the
> sections are interlinked. As you do Section 1, it creates something
> in Section 2, and 1 and 2 build Section 3. As you go through it, it
> builds the format commonly used in patent applications, and then you
> can go through and edit it."
>
> The software draws words from the inventor's title and primary
> descriptions to write the application in the prose and format
> particular to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
>
> "When you think about a patent, 95 percent of it is a technical
> description of the invention," Petruzzi said. "That doesn't require
> legalese, but for the inventor to disclose what the invention is, how
> it works, what are the significant modifications, we really push the
> fact that the claims need to be written in a clear manner."
>
> The company is already selling the software under the name PatentPro
> (www.4patpro.com).
>
> "A lot of people use the program to prepare a draft application and
> give it to their patent attorney and reduce costs," Petruzzi said. He
> and his partner, Robert M. Mason, won patent 6,049,811.
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