1.  "...A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art...."

     → c.  U.S.C. 35 § 103          if your invention is obvious to POSA, no patent is available  ←

2.  "..A person shall be entitled to a patent unless - the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of the application for patent in the United States,..."

 → c.  Title 35, section 102      conditions of novelty  ←

3.  "Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title."

    →c.  Title 35 section 101     the statutory classes←

4.  "When used in this title unless the context otherwise indicates - the term 'invention' means invention or discovery.....The term "process" means process, art or method, and includes a new use of a known process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, or material...."

→ a.  U.S.C. 35 § 100  (statutory definitions, we snuck this one in)

5.  Name the specific part of the U.S. Constitution that is called "the Patent and Copyright Clause".

→d.  Article 1, section 8, clause 8           to promote ....etc.

6.  From the inventors search prayer what do the initial letters  P M M C N  stand for?

        a.  please make my coffee now.

        b.  pack my machine-guns carefully now.

    →c.  process, machine, manufacture, composition and "new use".      ← the statutory classes

        d.  perpetual motion machines can't never-work*. 

             *(a Strother Martin delivery works well with this one)                         

                                                 Strother Martin once said he made good living out of playing prairie scum.

7.  Who is smarter? 

        a.  a person of ordinary skill in the art

    →b.  a person skilled in the art   

8.  Which of the following is the broadest definition of the word patent? 

        a.  a government grant to an inventor

    →b.  obvious

        c.  to grant public land to an individual

        d.  an official document conferring some right

9.  The second broadest would be:    d. an official document conferring some right.  

This definition would include  a. and c. right?

10.  If an invention has no use is it patentable?

       b.  no.←  

11.  If you had a fully operational Browning M2 Machine gun in your basement without registration you would be violating:

       C.  U.S.C. 18 § 922 (o)   Except as provided in paragraph (2), it shall be unlawful for any person to transfer or possess a machinegun.

12.  Sale or offer for sale Jan. 10, 2000 therefore patent application must be filed on or before Jan 10, 2001.

       B.  no.

13.  A. yes   exactly 1 year is OK. 

14.  Farm birds are like other farm birds so the answer would be

       D.  Title 35 section 103 (nonobvious)

15.  You receive a letter from the U.S. Patent office rejecting your number 1 patent claim for giving ducks noklucin.  The examiner says that since this drug calms down chickens it would be obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art to give this compound to ducks for the same reason.  In your response you point the examiners attention to paragraph [0030] in which you state that noklucin also increases the concentration of myoglobin in the muscles of ducks.  In this paragraph and in the preceding ([0029]) you explain how myoglobin gives some animals' meat it's characteristic deep maroon color.  And that myoglobin is the oxygen storage pigment in animals that heard, migrate or dive deep into the ocean.  It also gives red meat the hearty flavor that many people enjoy.  You inform the examiner that not only do your ducks behave better, they also taste better.  In response to your letter, the examiner, as he is required to do by the patent office, writes you a new patent claim covering the myoglobin.   You get your patent.   In what statutory class would your invention/discovery fall under.

F.  Both C and D       "new use" is a specialized process, though a process none the less.

note:  the answer would not be B. Composition of matter because Section 101 says it must be "new" which in this case it isn't.

16.  There is no right answer for this one it's up to you.

17.  Ditto as with 15.

18.  If the answer to 16 is B  this answer would be:

     B.  Hire a lawyer.  Up till now you've been playing on a fairly level playing field.  Since there

              would be no referee looking out for fairness you'll need a hired gun.  Besides you can tack

              onto your settlement and licensing agreement with the manufacturer your legal

              bills.

Patent law has been described as multiple whirlpools of twisting, yanking logic that will screw your brain into a knot if you don't get a handle on the big picture.  Most text books are shattered and scattered mosaics of disjointed ideas and concepts.   Authors of these failures give a rule or concept then provide an example that ties into nothing else.  What we at patentlessons.com try to do as best we can, is to start at the beginning of something and go as far as we can, as with the case with the duck farmer/inventor. 

About the mini lesson.

Once you know this information you will know more about patents than 99.999% of the population including probably most members of congress and a great many judges and lawyers.

Once you're satisfied with your success with this mini lesson, Take Lesson 1.  You'll do fine.

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