ice intellectual property © cyril grandpierre 2013 · pdf fileice intellectual property...

ICE Intellectual Property © Cyril Grandpierre 2013 1

Intellectual Property - Patents


1843 report to Congress : director of the US Patent Office, Henry L. Ellsworth : "The advancement of the arts and science, from year to year, seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end."

1847 birth of an idiotic stupid children in America. What was his name ?

It is an old concept ... 15th century in Italy. 1791 first regulation about patents in France, 1790 in America. It was seen as an absolute need to develop industry But for a limited period of time ... 50 to 100 years.


Thomas Edison

Born in 1847 : At 7 he was seen by his family and teachers as idiotic and stupid, unable to learn something at school.

At 10 he created his 1st laboratory.

At 27 he created his own company to exploit its many patents : General Electric

At 84 he was one of the richest man in the world and he signed his 1093rd patent, and died.

Guess his name

At 19 he filled his 1st patent.


The number of patents delivered per country in 2011. 1-USA- 48 596 +8% 2-Japan- 38 888 +21% 3-Germany- 18 568 +6% 4-China- 16 406 +33% 5-South Korea- 10 447 +8% 6-France- 7 664 (drop from 16 707 (increase in taxes from 12 ½% to >60%.)) +6% Total = 181.900

2014 : 500 per day.

An incredible weapon


Intermittent windscreen wipers Robert Kearns 1964 30M$

you can kill a giant with a patent, but you must aim well, very well.

Instant photography Polaroid against Kodak 1972 14 years of court cases 925M$

Patent


It is a certificate of ownership of an invention

valid for certain countries during a certain time. It gives you the right to forbid anyone to produce, import, sell or use (?) something in accordance with your patent in a country where your patent is valid.

For instance, if the product is produced in China, bought in Germany, and used in France. One patent registered in China (????), Germany or France is enough to sue the producer, seller or user (if you are clever enough). Duration 20 years.

What is Patentable?


1 -Must be a technical solution to a technical problem. But there is little by little an extension of this idea.

You can patent : - 1-A product.

-3- An application. To use an already known product for a new use. Example: use aspirin as an insecticide. Zoom effect on an iPhone.

-2-A process. To get an already known product. Example: a way of making aspirin. ..... You can, but must you?

If looking at the product, you cannot prove the way it was produced, there is no interest to give to your competitors the recipe. Having a secret know how is also a good protection, and it lasts for ever.

Case : The way to produce Dubixium

Dubixium principle Dubixium Solution Dubixium Problem

3-attached patents/Dubixium640-GB.mov



2-turning heat/Dubixium The Solution.mpg



2-turning heat/Dubixium The Problem.mpg



What is Patentable?

ICE Intellectual Property © Cyril Grandpierre 2013

2 -You can protect only one invention per patent:”principle of unity of invention”. In fact we will see how to patent several ideas around one invention, and to patent something global or just a detail.

1- A combination. A product made by a combination of already known elements, when the result is different from what can do each element separately. Example: the corkscrew. I add a notch is it patentable ? I add a knife is it patentable ?

What is Patentable?


3 -This solution must be new. If the public could access to the invention before, by any way, by anybody, in any place, at any time.

So if you invent something you must keep it absolutely secret until you submit it to the patent office. If you want to discuss it with somebody, you must ask him to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Case : windsurf.

What is Patentable?


3 -This solution must be new. If the public could access to the invention before, by any way, by anybody, in any place, at any time. Case : CRAB against EVANS.

Panthéon

CRAB

crab/CRAB.wmv

What is Patentable?


5 - The invention must involve an inventive step, that is to say must not result in an obvious way from the technique known by a skilled man. The main argument used by the car manufacturers during the windscreen wipers court case was the lack of inventivity.

4 -The invention must be able to have industrial applications, that is to say could be manufactured and used.

Example: Was a pencil with a rubber at one end patentable, before its invention? 1- Was it a technical problem? 2- Could it have an industrial application? 3- Was it new? 4- Was there an inventive step?

Case : patent a new business

... combination of already known elements, when the result is different from what can do each element separately.

What is Patentable?


Some inventions are not patentable -Ideas. -Scientific discoveries. -Mathematical methods. -Art creations. -Drawings, principles, methods. -Computer programs. -A new plant, or animal. (???) In USA it is now possible to protect gene sequences, the process to create a living body or the global living body by itself. Endless discussion,

Can GOD now patent the human body in USA ? (but only for 20 year)

Who can register a patent?


A company, a person, a patent agent for you.

1 –You are in a research department, a drawing office, your job is to invent so you have an inventive mission. To avoid discussions write the inventive mission in the job description, or in the contract. Then the invention is owned by the employer, who can register the patent. He can put your name as inventor or not. He can give you a reward or not. If it is in a French university, you have the right to get 50% of the net profit (probably because the job of a researcher is to make research, not to find something).

Patent of an employee. Who owns the patent?

Case : circuit for air logic

Who can register a patent?


A company, a person, a patent agent for you.

2 –You do not have an inventive mission, but the invention is in the scope of the company, or you have used the knowledge or the means of the company. You must inform the company of your invention, and the company can decide to own the invention or not. But you must be named as inventor, and you must receive a fair remuneration. Your boss decides what a fair remuneration is.

Patent of an employee. Who owns the patent?

Case : CRAB

3 –There is no relations between your job and your invention. You own your invention. For instance you work in a bicycle factory and you invent a swiss watch-knife.

How to read or to write a patent.


1795 first patent for a cork screw Reverend Samuel Henshall in England. 1795 to 1883 more than 300 patents about corkscrews in England.

1883 Carl Wienke a German patented the Waiter's Corkscrew or sommelier knife or Single Lever Corkscrew

1980 Bruno Desnoulez, a Frenchman, invented the double lever corkscrew. This patent is simple, and readable.

Where is the innovation ? Which problem is solved ?



It is a legal text, so the goal is not that you understand it, but 1/ that the controller accept the patent, and 2/ to win a court case if necessary. So it is not fun.



ABSTRACT with a drawing

ABSTRACT A corkscrew is combined with a flat elongated handle. Two extraction levers are pivoted to one end of the handle. Each lever has a notch for resting on the bottle neck to help extract corks.

tireBouchonUS tireBouchonFR Reference number Date of delivery Date of application Country of validity Foreign application priority data References cited

3-attached patents/tireBouchonUS.pdf

3-attached patents/tireBouchonFR.pdf



FIELD OF THE INVENTION, description of the problem. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART, BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION, the state of the art, with references to previous patents. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION, description of the invention, and the way the problem is solved. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS the best way to make it. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

tireBouchonUS Each page has a number each 5 line the line number To reference a line : line 15 page 3

3-attached patents/tireBouchonUS.pdf



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other characteristics and advantages are set forth in the text below with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 shows, in elevation, a corkscrew according to the invention, FIGS. 2 and 2a show an example of the extraction lever articulated in two positions, FIG. 3 shows another variant of the corkscrew the extraction lever of which also comprises two articulation positions and only one notch, FIGS. 4 and 4a show another example of an embodiment in which the extraction lever is made in two parts.

Each page has a number / out of number of pages. Each figure has a number.



We claim: 1. A corkscrew for removing a cork from the mouth of a bottle comprising a flat elongated handle having first and second ends, auger (vrille) means positioned between said first and second ends and pivotally attached to said handle, and extraction lever means secured to said handle about pivot means located at one of said first or second ends, said extraction lever means comprising first and second levers, each secured at one end thereof to said handle at said pivot means, said first lever including a first notch and said second lever including a second notch, and said first and second notches being located at first and second unequal distances away from said pivot means, whereby after screwing said auger from said pivot means against said bottle mouth, said handle is pivoted about said pivot means causing a first partial extraction of said cork from said bottle mouth, with subsequent complete removal of said cork from said bottle mouth being facilitated by thereafter positioning the other notch most distant from said pivot means against said bottle mouth and pivoting said handle about said pivot means, causing a second total extraction of said cork, via said auger pivoting about said pivot means, out of said bottle mouth in a two-step removal operation. 2. The corkscrew according to claim 1, wherein said

Claims, the most important part: one very long sentence where each word is important.

How to read a patent. Exercise.


REVENDICATIONS du brevet Français. 1 - Tire-bouchon comportant un manche plat, une queue de cochon articulée coopérant avec un levier d'extraction s'appuyant sur le bord du goulot de la bouteille au moyen d'un cran d'appui, caractérisé en ce que le levier d'extraction comporte deux crans d'appui permettant l'extraction complète en deux opérations. 2 - Tire-bouchon selon 1, caractérisé en ce que ….

If the patent was still valid, could I produce this corkscrew ?


We claim: 1. A corkscrew for removing a cork from the mouth of a bottle comprising a flat elongated handle having first and second ends, auger (vrille) means positioned between said first and second ends and pivotally attached to said handle, and extraction lever (levier) means secured (bien attaché) to said handle about pivot means located at one of said first or second ends, said extraction lever means comprising first and second levers, each secured at one end thereof to said handle at said pivot means, said first lever including a first notch (encoche) and said second lever including a second notch, and said first and second notches being located at first and second unequal distances away from said pivot means, …

How to read a patent. Exercise. If the patent was still valid, could I produce this corkscrew ?

corkscrew US copy

3-attached patents/tireBouchonUS copy.pdf

How to write a patent.


The words of a patent.

Read some patents, and translate. One thing at least one thing. 2 faces parallels 2 faces noticeably parallels etc...

“said first lever (levier) including a first notch (entaille) and said second lever including a second notch,” So I could patent a third notch It would have been better to write : at least a second …

How to read a patent.


At the end : research report of previous patents. X means particularly relevant: the applicant had to reply or answer to the controller.

The calendar the different steps


Before the registration. 1-You make inquiries about the prior art. You must know perfectly the subject and its environment. 2-You look at all the patents delivered in France, Europe and USA during those last 20 years. 3-“I got this morning an idea that I will patent” never works. It is usually months or years of research.

4- You must keep it secret.

5-You look if your invention is patentable. 6-You look if it can work and be produced.



Before the registration. 7-You look if there is a market, and the product can be extremely profitable. (Tax 25% + 15% CSG, CRDS + social contribution for an individual). 8-You keep accounts of all your spendings, for the future taxes (???).

Patent Form 9-You fulfil the form. You can download it from the INPI site. 10-You write the patent and do the drawings. Or if you are rich enough (5k€) you ask a patent agent to do it for you.

11-You control the patent agent’s work. I saw so many very good ideas transformed into very bad patents ! 11bis-REMEMBER : “never sign something that you do not understand.” It is better to be seen as ignorant than to be victim of a racket, or worse, an incompetent.

4-INPI/formulaire brevet.pdf

4-INPI/formulaire brevet.pdf



D Day, M Month - register the patent and the application form to INPI. And pay fee. Registration + research report = 536€ Delivery = 86€ Each claim after 12 = 40€ ... but 50% discount for an individual or little companies. Then each year : 2nd year to 5th year 36€, 6rd year 72€, 7th year 92€ ... with the 50% discount. But then it increases from 130€ to 760€ the last years without discount.

So the cost is negligible.

Few days later - You receive from INPI the application number and the date of priority ... if your form is complete. If not, you send the missing elements. Then you are a little bit protected BUT do not show or speak about it officially yet.



Month + 1 to 5 INPI transmit to “national Defence”.

Month + 2 to 5 INPI have a first look.

Month + 7 to 9 INPI send you a preliminary report of research with all the anteriorities they found (it is not a guaranty, as they cannot know everything), and an advice on the patentability of the invention. The controller are usually high level technicians (One century ago one of them in Swissland was particularly famous. Who knows ?) but they cannot know everything in your speciality. You have 3 month to answer to the remarks. Especially on the X relevant anteriorities, and the lack of inventivity. Then you can ask for minor modifications. Within 3 months you got an answer, and if it is negative, you can reply and a second time make minor modifications.



Month +12 You can improve your patent. What is common with the first application will have the first priority date, the new elements will have the second priority date. -You are allowed to enlarge the patent to other countries.

Month +18 INPI publish the application. So everybody can know it. Any person can contest your patent by sending new elements. You can answer and make minor modifications to comply with the contest.

Month + 25 INPI makes a final report. Says Ok or not.

Month + 27 (more than 2 years)

You pay the fee 2. Then the patent is delivered.

Case : patent well known techniques : RiceTech patent US5663484 Basmati rice.

3-attached patents/US5663484.pdf



Foreign patents.

So if you do it by yourself in France the cost is negligible. But, from the priority date, you have 1 year to enlarge it to other countries, and then the cost becomes enormous: one patent agent in each country, translations aso. At M+12 you have to decide about the big investment, without knowing if your patent will be delivered or not. Those 12 months are a rush to test prototypes, to see if it works as expected, to test foreign markets and have commercial contacts aso. In each country the patent is submitted to the same procedure, research of anteriorities, discussions about inventivity aso. So a patent could be accepted in a country and not in another one. Japanese, Americans, Germans are probably a bit racists or protectionists and make it more difficult for foreigners.

Case : CRAB in Lebanon.



Foreign patents.

European Patent. To patent in each European countries: 38 countries, speaking 29 language is impossible. So the European patent in 3 languages will be less expensive and easier.

World Patent. To patent in all the countries: 148 countries.


The killing detail.

Case : Rocket launch tube.

Patent pending. A clever accessory on a machine, probably not patentable, and anyway of a too low value to deserve a patent. You launch this novelty at a trades fair with a big panel “Patent pending”. If you are known to create a lot of patents, and to defend them aggressively, nobody will try to copy you before 2 or 3 years. Which is enough to get a good market share. Example : the mast with a hook on an ironer.

Fun is back !

Strategies of patents.

Zion canyon.

3-attached patents/BendedNail ZionCanyon.mpg



Obvious or well known old ideas. One of our German competitor used to patent well known old ideas. It can work as the patent controller is a specialist in patents, not in the details of your market. If you make a permanent watch on your competitors patents, you are aware of this cheating before the patent is granted, so you can contest it by sending a simple remark to the patent controller. When the patent is granted, then you have to go to court, and to bring evidences. Long, uncertain and expensive.



False nose. You patent things in a false direction just to let your competitors thrust that you are working in this direction which has no future. Usual practice in big companies. I do prefer to use an interview in a professional magazine, a model on a trade show etc...

Patent bad solutions. You got the best solution of a problem. You patent it, but there could be others, not so good solutions, which could be used by your competitors. So you try to find all the other solutions to prevent them to solve the problem. The ideal is to use the 12 claims to cover all the other solutions.

Air liquide



Double patent. A too general patent is fragile. A too precise patent could be diverted. The ideal is to do both in the same patent. Or patent the general idea first, to give you time, then make a second patents more precise. See patent CRAB. 1- Patent the principle of a swinging pin. “claim 1. Method of assembling a scaffolding ...” 2- Patent the way to get it. “claim 2. Scaffolding of a tubular type composed of ...”

Patents


Battles and strategies around patents

The Problem Case study : The turning heat ironer. 1- understand the technical problem. 2-read the case. 3-Suggest a strategy. 4-Read what is marital fidelity.

Dubixium400-GB

turning heat ironer 1

www.erppp.com/diversions-divertissantes/la-fidélité-conjugale/

2-turning heat/The Problem.mpg

2-turning heat/Dubixium400-GB.mov



2-turning heat/turning heat ironer 1.doc

http://www.erppp.com/diversions-divertissantes/la-fidélité-conjugale/









Patent the invention and the use of the invention. A German competitor used to copy the others patents. Then he got court cases in Germany, which could last 10 years or more, with very good lawyers. Most of the people give up before the end. What I did : Claim 1: laundry comprising a washing machine ... Claim 2: a laundry machine in a laundry according to claim 1 ... If you sue the customers the result is immediate.

Do not patent a production secret that nobody can find, because it is forever. Example : the formula of Coca-Cola Dubixium : a patent on the product plus a production secret.



Stupidities. No limit in patenting stupidities. I saw stupid patents delivered to very serious companies in Japan. What could be the strategy ?

A patent could be a gift from the boss to his employee as a reward.

Enveloppe Soleau


A patent is a title deed (titre de propriété) it proofs your property. “Enveloppe Soleau” is an element of proof of your anteriority and to give a date. You can use it for a novel, music, drawing, invention whatever you like aso.

You can buy it on the site www.inpi.fr “boutique électronique” for 15€. You get two envelops. you create a document with a maximum of 7 pages A4. Max thickness 5mm. No hard piece. 3 copies. : one in each envelop, and you keep one. You send back the 2 envelops closed to INPI. INPI send you back one with a number of registration and some holes, and put the second in a safe for 5 years, or more if you pay 15€ more. So in case of problem you can ask INPI to send its envelop to a court or a bailiff (huissier de justice).

Cas : heat pipes. heat pipes

http://www.inpi.fr/

3-attached patents/heatpipes.mov



Brands or Trademarks.


Do you prefer a product branded with a well known brand or a similar product without brand? Why?

Because if the branded product is bad, the company will lose its reputation, so the value of the brand will drop. Lacoste can sell its products at a 3 times higher price than similar products. They are not ready to lose this advantage. They even put the estimated value of their brand in their books as an asset.

Case : Electrolux Trademark in US

Case : True / False Latourette polos



A brand is a name : Lacoste + a logo : the crocodile + a slogan : l’Oréal : « parceque vous le valez bien ». Nike : « Just do it ». + a sound sentence (a short partition) Or a combination : a certain way to write the name.

What is the most well known logo in the world? World wide inquiry made 10 years ago by Woolmark, because they thought they would be the winner.

It could also be a collective brand: Example: Woolmark guarantee a certain quality of wool. “Les plus beaux villages de France”, « Relais et chateaux » …..



By registering a trademark you get for the country, the monopoly of usage during 10 years, for a certain domain.

Conditions. It must be free but new is not compulsory. For Champaign as a beverage, it is too late. Not a common word : Crab for a preserve (conserve) of crabs. Not a praise. The best crab. Not a lie. Woolmark for cotton garments. Not against public order: A racist sentence. Not a public name or logo, like the French flag. Not a regulated name. Champagne for a wine.

The 45 international classes I could have used the brand Lacoste in class 6 but certainly not in class 25.. 6 = metallic scaffoldings 25 = garments, hosiery (bonnetterie) Of course, I put the brand CRAB in class 6.

International classes

3-attached patents/Classes de marques.pdf



The calendar the different steps. 1-What product or services you want to protect. 2-Create the name, logo and slogan. This is a very creative part, as your brand must be a pronounceable word in all languages; do not have a negative meaning in some languages aso.

3-Look if you can use your brand in your class, if it is not already the name of a company, a person, a place aso. Ask INPI for a research on your brand name.

4-You get the form on the INPI site. You fulfil it, and send it to INPI. You pay 200€ for the first class and 40€ for extra classes. Everything can be done by internet. 5-You receive a copy of the deposit, with the date and a number. 6-6 weeks later INPI publishes your brand name. So people have 2 months to make a remark or opposition.



The calendar the different steps. 7-INPI controls the validity of your brand name and send you remarks or oppositions. 8-You meet objections. Case : Brand CRAB in Germany

9-Within 5 months INPI publishes your definitive brand name and send you a certificate. 10-Within 6 months from the D day, you can apply in other countries with the benefit of the initial date.

11-Keep a special book about what happen for your brand, leaflets advertising. To prove the use of it. 12-Renew it every 10 years in France, 5 in other countries. There is no time limit.

Drawings and Models


Drawing is 2 D thing. Model is a 3 D thing, but as you cannot put a 3D thing in an envelope, it is anyway a 3 D thing represented by a 2D drawing. It is the same idea than before but for aesthetic purpose. In fact if it is not a technical solution, nor a brand or logo nor a test or music, not a computer program, it is a drawing.

Gives the operating monopoly if France for 5 years, that you can renew up to a maximum of 25 years. Each country has its own rules, because there is no specific worldwide agreement like for patents or trademarks.

You can protect the shape of the product itself or an ornamentation = decorative component of the product.

Drawings and Models


Conditions Same than before : 1-It must be free and new. You cannot protect a Louis the 16th cupboard. 2-Not a common drawing : 3-Not against public order: A racist drawing. 4-Not a public name or logo, like the French flag. 5-Not a regulated name. Plus 6-It must be visible. Not an internal component. 7-It must have its own character. 8-You must own the rights, be the creator or get the agreement of the creator. You must not show it before the deposit, because it is no more new. There it is more flexible than a patent. The calendar the different steps Same than for a brands.

Copyrights and “droits d’auteur”


A work of the mind is protected by its mere existence. There you can protect any writing, music, computer program. There is a common agreement between the 167 countries of the Berne agreement. The rights are different, with current changes.

In case of dispute you must be able to prove your anteriority. It must have a physical support: drawing, text, partition, CD, DVD aso. A speech, choreography or a song will be difficult to protect if there is not a writing or a film. In addition of the operating monopoly, there is a moral right. A work of an employee has the same rules than for a patent. Generally the protection is 50 years after the death of the author (Convention of Berne 1989). In certain cases it is 70 years post mortem for music. It could be 95 years after publishing for a company aso.

Copyrights and “droits d’auteur”


How to get a Copyright? Easy answer: you cannot, you have to do it by yourself.

By putting the famous © you declare that you want to protect your rights on your

creation. Then you have to prove that you own the creation and the date of priority. An “Enveloppe Soleau” is perfect, a logibox is good also as a sealed envelop, now deposit on a specialized site like www.copyright-france.com or copyright.be works as well. Send it to SACEM if it is a music etc. www.sacem.fr/cms/home/createurs-editeurs/rejoignez-createurs-editeurs-sacem

http://www.copyright-france.com/



http://www.copyright.be/

http://www.sacem.fr/cms/home/createurs-editeurs/rejoignez-createurs-editeurs-sacem









What can we protect ?


FASA 230 – model 1986 FASA 230 – model 1990 FASA 230 – model 1998

Patents Brand and trademark Drawing and model

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