Isn’t the Patent Office supposed to help patent applicants acting on their own behalf ?
Yes, but getting a patent issued by the PTO is not even half the task of protecting valuable inventions. As mentioned above, patents must survive attacks challenging their validity and scope of protection. Accused infringers just do not “take it easy”on patents procured by the inventors on their own. Often, prior art or pre-existing technology or patents come to light until after issuance of the patent. Another example is the obligation to disclose the best mode contemplated by the inventor for carrying out the invention. A further example is the duty to disclose prior art known to the inventor as of the filing of the application. Moreover, the PTO routinely rejects claims for being too broad. We have never seen a rejection on claims being too narrow, yet unnecessarily narrow claims will often allow others to use the invention without infringing the claims. Further, claims are interpreted differently by the PTO and the courts. Thus, just getting by the PTO is not enough. An applicant f
Related Questions
- Does the Patent Office help to select a patent attorney or agent to make patent search or to prepare and prosecute patent application?
- How does the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) help innovators stop fakes?
- Isn’t the Patent Office supposed to help patent applicants acting on their own behalf ?
