Dewipat

High-res scanzen: Winston’s shell. Designer Graham demonstrates Winston Churchill’s personal pressure chamber, created to enable him to make high-altitude flights safely. In: Life, 10 Feb 1947. To protect the precious bulk of Winston Churchill in wartime a special one-man pressure chamber was built for the personal plane which carried him many times across the Atlantic and to Casablanca, Moscow and Yalta. Churchill was warned by his doctors that it was dangerous for a man of his age and physical condition to fly above 8,000 feet. The solution was a pressure chamber complete with ash trays, telephone and an air-circulation system good enough to prevent smoke from the ubiquitous cigar from fogging the atmosphere.

scanzen:

Winston’s shell. Designer Graham demonstrates Winston Churchill’s personal pressure chamber, created to enable him to make high-altitude flights safely. In: Life, 10 Feb 1947.

To protect the precious bulk of Winston Churchill in wartime a special one-man pressure chamber was built for the personal plane which carried him many times across the Atlantic and to Casablanca, Moscow and Yalta. Churchill was warned by his doctors that it was dangerous for a man of his age and physical condition to fly above 8,000 feet. The solution was a pressure chamber complete with ash trays, telephone and an air-circulation system good enough to prevent smoke from the ubiquitous cigar from fogging the atmosphere.

(via npr)

Patent Prosecution Highway for PCT

A Patent Prosecution Highway (“PPH”) request can be filed at the USPTO in any national stage application, regardless of the nature of the priority claim in the parent Patent Cooperation Treaty (“PCT”) application, provided there is a PPH agreement between the USPTO and the International Searching Authority (“ISA”) used in the PCT application. Presently, there are PPH agreements between the USPTO and each of the European Patent Office, the Nordic Patent Institute, and the intellectual property offices in Australia, Austria, China, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Spain, and Sweden.

Related:
Expediting Patent Examination
Patent Prosecution Highway
PPH at the USPTO

Expediting Patent Examination

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) offers several programs for expediting patent examination. Here are some examples:

Prioritized Examination (Track I)

Track I can be initiated (i) at the time of filing a patent application, (ii) at the time of filing a request for continued examination in a patent application, or (iii) after filing a request for continued examination (RCE) in a patent application but before receiving a first office action after the filing of the RCE. Non-provisional utility or plant applications filed under 35 USC 111(a) are eligible.

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New use of old device

Every now and then, people will discover a new use for an old or known device and wonder if they have invented something that could be patented. The notes below might help.

—Mere application of an old device to a new use does not constitute an invention. Exer-Genie, Inc. v. MacDonald, 453 F.2d 133 (9th Cir. 1972).

—Adaptation of an old device to a new use may constitute invention especially where the device is transferred from one art to another. But where such adaptation—with or without such transfer—is the product of mere mechanical skill, it does not constitute invention. Id, 453 F.2d at 133.

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End of Inventor’s Notebook as Patent Instrument

It used to be that inventors intending to file for patents in the United States were admonished to be meticulous about recording their inventions in hardbound notebooks. The entries had to be dated and signed with a witness on hand. No more. On 16 March 2013, the United States will no longer be a first-to-invent country. For the same claimed invention, the applicant who makes it first to the patent office will get the right of priority. This can be good news or bad news depending on how you look at it. Some say that the little guy may not have the resources to get to the patent office on time. On the other hand, the first-to-file system will simplify resolution of effective filing dates of patent applications and patents and would align the United States with much of the rest of the world.

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What best mode

With signing of the America Invents Act (H.R. 1246) on 16 September 2011, failure to disclose the best mode in a patent specification will no longer form a basis on which any claim of the patent may be canceled or held invalid or unenforceable. However, the patent specification is still “required” to disclose the best mode of carrying out the invention.

Patent is a luxury

Fee reduction due to claiming small entity status only applies in the context of fees you have to pay to the patent office in a patent application. Do not call a patent practitioner and ask if the patent practitioner will prepare your patent specification for a pittance because you are a small entity. Patent is a luxury. Therefore, if you can’t afford it or know someone who can help you afford it, stay away from it.

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