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- Inventors’ Rights Provisions of AIPA
- Other Helpful U.S. Patent Laws for Inventors
- Helping Innovators Protect IP
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- The American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 included a section on
“Inventors’ Rights.” This section
provides that:
- Before an “invention promoter” can enter into a contract with an
inventor, it must disclose:
- how many inventions it has evaluated in the past five years,
- how many of those inventions got positive or negative evaluations,
- its total number of customers,
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- Before an “invention promoter” can enter into a contract with an
inventor, it must disclose:
- how many of those customers received a net profit from the promoter's
services,
- how many of those customers have licensed their inventions due to the
promoter's services, and
- The names and addresses of all invention promotion companies they have
been affiliated with over the past 10 years.
- See Title 35, United States Code, Section 297(a)
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- The AIPA also provided that:
- The USPTO will receives complaints about invention promoters
- The USPTO shall notify the invention promoter of a complaint and
provide a reasonable opportunity to reply prior to making such
complaint publicly available
- The complaints, and any responses, are posted on the USPTO website
at: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/iip/complaints.htm
- Questions concerning complaints on invention promoters should be
directed to the Inventors Assistance Program ((866) 767-3848)
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- In 2006- Case of Davison & Associates Inc., now known as Davison
Design and Development, Inc., Manufacturer's Support Services, Inc.,
based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but operated nationwide.
- Judge Ordered an Award of $26 Million.
- In 2007, The Federal Trade Commission filed a civil contempt action
against four individuals and eight business entities for allegedly
operating a fraudulent invention promotion business in violation of a
court order.
- They had been charged with fraudulent business practices in 1997.
- But the same scam was revived under the name, “Patent and Trademark
Institute of America” (PTI).
- Scam Operation Took More Than $60 Million from 17,000 Consumers.
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- One Year Grace Period (35 U.S.C. 102(b))
- This provision exempts an inventor’s disclosures from prior art, if
within one year before the filing date of the application
- Patent Term Adjustment (35 U.S.C. 154)
- If the USPTO delays examination of a patent application, the term of a
patent can be adjusted to compensate the patentee for the delay.
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- Small Business Seminars
- Independent Inventor Seminars
- Country Specific Programs
- On Line Chats
- Web Resources
- Telephone and E-mail assistance
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- Article 27(1)--Patentable Subject Matter
- Requires that patents be available for any invention, whether products
or processes, in all areas of technology provided that they are new,
involve an inventive step, and are capable of industrial application.
- This general rule regarding eligibility for patentability is subject to
specific exceptions set forth in paras. (2) & (3) of Article 27.
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- Patent Assistance Center:
- Telephone Numbers Hours of Operation
Monday - Friday
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM (ET)
- 800-PTO-9199
- (800-786-9199)
OR
571-272-1000
- E-mail your question to: PatentPractice@uspto.gov
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- Trademark Assistance Center
- Telephone Numbers Hours of Operation
Monday - Friday
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM (ET)
- 800-PTO-9199
- (800-786-9199)
- E-mail your question to TrademarkAssistanceCenter@uspto.gov.
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- Thank You
- J
- David Morfesi
- IP Attaché
- US Mission to the WTO
- David_Morfesi@ustr.eop.gov
- +41 22 749 5281
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