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Patents
Business Forms Handbook
A patent is a grant of certain rights by the government to a person who invents or discovers a new and useful process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof. Patents are granted by the Patent Office, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Interpretations of patent law by the courts have defined the limits of the field of subject matter that can be patented. It has been held that printed matter and methods of doing business cannot be patented. A patent is granted only on a new product itself and not merely upon the idea or suggestion of a new product.
One of the first patents of interest to the business forms industry—Patent No. 252,646—was granted on January 24, 1882, to John R. Carter for a Manifold Copyright Book. Numerous patents have been granted since that time for forms processing equipment and for forms constructions. The autographic register patent of 1883 and the voluminous mailer patents of recent years are examples of patents for business forms and related products.
A patent must include specifications, including a written description of the invention and of the manner and process of making and using it. The specifications (descriptions and claims) are required to be in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same. The specification must set forth the precise invention for which a patent is solicited, in such manner as to distinguish it from other inventions and from what is old. It must describe completely a specific embodiment of the process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or improvements invented, and it must explain the mode of operation or principle whenever applicable. The best mode contemplated by the inventor for carrying out the invention must be set forth.
In the case of an improvement, the specification must particularly point out the part of parts of the process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter to which the improvement relates. The description should be confined to the specific improvement and to such parts as necessarily cooperate with it or as may be necessary to a complete understanding or description of it.
The specification must conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter that the applicant regards as the invention.
The claims, which are brief descriptions of the subject matter of the invention, are the operative part of the patent. They should eliminate unnecessary details but should recite all essential features necessary to distinguish the invention from what is old. The claim or claims must conform to the invention as set forth in the remainder of the specification. The terms and phrases used in the claims must find clear support or antecedent basis in the description so that the meaning of the terms in the claims may be ascertainable by reference to the description.
Novelty and patentability are judged by the claims. When a patent is granted, questions of infringement are judged by the courts on the basis of the claims.
The word patent and the number of the patent are required on a patented article. If a patented article is not marked in this manner, the patent holder might not recover damages in an infringement suit unless the person accused of infringement had continued such action after receiving notice of the infringement. The protection afforded by a patent doesn't start until the actual grant of the patent. Although some persons mark articles with the terms "Patent Pending" or "Patent Applied For," these phrases have no legal effect—they note only that an application for a patent has been filed in the Patent Office. However, false use of theses phrases or their equivalents is prohibited.
Infringement of a patent consists of the unauthorized making, using, or selling of the patented invention. In an infringement suit, the defendant may raise the question of the validity of the patent, which is then decided by the court. The defendant may also allege that the action does not constitute infringement, which is determined primarily by the language of the claims of the patent.
Only a court of law can determine whether a valid patent has been infringed, and the advice of a legal specialist should be sought in cases of patent infringement.