Intellectual Property in the Food Technology Industry potx

[...]... as defining the “metes and bounds” of the patented invention These “metes and bounds” define a patent holder’s rights to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing an accused invention Thus, if an accused invention falls within a patent claim’s scope, it infringes the patent’s scope Before reaching infringement, however, the claims must meet certain requirements The claims... the inventor’s state of mind, and not necessarily on whether the description provides the true best mode of carrying out the invention The best mode requirement is intended to prevent the inventor(s) from concealing a preferred embodiment of the invention from the public Thus, in order to fail to satisfy the best mode requirement, the inventor must know of a better way of carrying out the claimed invention... Examination After filing a patent application, the USPTO assigns the application to a patent examiner for examination During examination, the examiner ensures that the application satisfies all formal requirements for the specification, claims, and drawings The examiner also conducts a search of available prior art references using search databases, including the Internet Following the examiner’s initial... into the shoes of a person of ordinary skill at the time the invention was made and determine whether the claimed invention would have been obvious without using hindsight obtained by reviewing the patent application Every obviousness determination considers four factual inquiries: (1) the scope and content of the prior art; (2) the differences between the prior art and the claimed invention; (3) the. .. Granted xvi Introduction As shown, there is a steady increase in trademark filing in the food industry over the period from 1999 to 2006 Companies are increasingly investing in their brand and reputation by filing for trademark protection It is equally important for a company to secure patent and trade secret rights in its research and development Once secured, a company can enforce its intellectual property. .. described in a patent The invention is described in a publicly available printed publication The invention is described in a patent By another By another In the United States In the United States Anywhere Before the applicant’s date of invention Before the applicant’s date of invention Before the applicant’s date of invention By another Anywhere Before the applicant’s date of invention By anyone Anywhere... plastic food containers and plastic grocery bags See Plastic Food Containers, ITC Inv No 337-TA-514 (2005), Plastic Introduction xvii Grocery and Retail Bags, ITC Inv No 337-TA-492 (2004) In both cases, the complainant was successful in obtaining an exclusion order to prevent importation of infringing articles into the United States In another case, a soft drink company, Kola Columbiana, was able to obtain... claimed invention is a useful starting point to determine whether the claimed invention would have been obvious in view of the prior art If the differences between the prior art and claims are trivial, the claimed invention will likely be unpatentable as obvious in view of the prior art The level of skill required of a hypothetical person having ordinary skill in the art is more than an ordinary layperson... claim the novel subject matter of the invention Drawings are “necessary for the understanding of the subject matter sought to be patented.”1 Finally, the application must include an oath or declaration naming the true and correct inventors, and must include the requisite filing fee 1.4.1 Claims A patent application’s claims are critical to defining the scope of protection sought in a patent The claim’s... to their respective writings and discoveries United States Constitution, Article I, § 8 A US patent is a contract between the United States and the inventor(s) in which the owner is granted a limited monopoly to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing a patented invention into the United States for a period of time during the term of the patent In exchange for these . Domain Names 59 5.1 Securing Intellectual Property in Domain Names . . . . . . . . 59 5.2 DomainNameDisputes 61 6 Intellectual Property Issues in Labeling and. pres- ence in the food technology industry. Trademarks are perhaps the most common means of IP protection in the food industry. Companies often in- vest