William Penn Life, 1994 (29. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1994-05-01 / 5. szám
Page 2, William Penn Life, May 1994 WilliamPenn LIFE Official Publication of the William Penn Association Published Monthly Office of Publication: 709 Brighton Road Pittsburgh, PA 15233 Phone: 412/231-2979 Third Class U.S. Postage Paid Pittsburgh, PA Permit No. 2724 E. E. Vargo Editor-in-chief George S. Charles, Jr. Frances A. Furedy Associate Editors John E. Lovász Managing Editor NATIONAL OFFICERS E. E. Vargo National President George S. Charles, Jr. National V.P./Secretary Frances A. Furedy National V.P./Treasurer Robert A. Kapinus Assistant Treasurer BOARD OF DIRECTORS Joseph P. Arvay Chairman Michael J. Hrabar Vice Chairman Roger G. Nagy Vice Chairman Anthony C. Beke Charles S. Fabian Louis A. Fodor Elmer A. Furedy Barbara A. House Michael R. Kara Michael F. Tomcsak Elmer W. Toth Frank J. Wukovits, Jr. Frank J. Radvany Secretary of the Board AUDITING COMMITTEE Charles J. Furedy Robert A. Ivancso Co-Chairmen Margaret H. Boso Secretary Dennis A. Chobody Joseph Hamari Ernest J. Mozer, Sr. CONSULTANTS Bruce &. Bruce Company Actuary Horovitz, Rudoy & Roteman C.P.A. Rothman Gordon Foreman &. Groudine, P.C. General Counsel Dr. Julius Kesseru Medical Director Unsolicited articles, letters, manuscripts, pictures and other material submitted to the WILLIAM PENN LIFE are forwarded at the owner's risk, and the WILLIAM PENN LIFE expressly denies any responsibility for their safekeeping or return. The WILLIAM PENN LIFE reserves the right to edit, revise or reject any article submitted for publication. Postmaster: If undelivered, please send form 3579 to: William Penn Association 709 Brighton Road Pittsburgh, PA 15233 Patents By Emil W. Herman, Esq., General Counsel This is the second in a series of articles dealing with intellectual property. Last month, I provided you with an overview of intellectual property law, and this month I will focus specifically on the topic of patents. Patent law is one of the few areas of the law in which an attorney has long been allowed to advertise or acknowledge himself as a specialist. To be a patent lawyer, however, the attorney must have an undergraduate degree in some type of engineering, and must have sat for and passed an exam prepared by the United States Patent Office. Patents can be issued for any useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new or useful improvement of some already existing process or product. Not every invention is capable of being patented, however. In fact, the process of obtaining a patent can be quite long and involved. Each patent applicant must establish to the satisfaction of the Board of Patent Examiners that the invention is (1) new, (2) useful and (3) nonob vious. A product or process is considered new if it has not been the subject of a prior patent, a prior publication, or a prior public use. Indeed, if the inventor were to use the process in public, not disclosing the secret of the invention, but merely showing its benefits, he may find the patent cannot issue because the invention is no longer new. Before a patent issues, a search must be made of all existing patents to be sure that the "new” invention or some part of it is not already registered. Many times, as several inventors work on their designs for the "better mousetrap,” there will be a "race” to the patent office to be the first to make application for a patent for the process or product. You may have noted a notation on products that states "Patent pending.” That designation means that the product itself, or the process by which it was manufactured, is the subject of a pending patent application with the United States Patent Office. This puts other applicants on notice that their own application may fail because it is not "new.” As you can see, determining whether a product is new is not always easy, and, as you may expect, newness has been the subject of considerable litigation. Even if you are able to establish that your invention is new, you must also establish that it is useful. Just because something is novel or unique is of no moment if it has not real benefit. By being forced to specify the utility of the invention in the application, the invention becomes less of an idea, with speculative utility, and more of a product or process which has definite uses. By requiring the invention to be useful, moreover, the government does not find itself in the position of having to consider items which are harmful or detrimental, or which are illegal or immoral. Finally, and perhaps, most confusing, an invention must be nonobvious. To evaluate whether an invention is nonobvious, you must be familiar with the "state of the art” concerning that invention at the time of invention. If any person skilled in the subject of which the invention is a part could have created the invention, the invention is obvious, and not patentable. If, however, the invention is a different or unexpected result given the state of the art, then it is nonobvious, and patentable. If the owner of the invention is able to overcome the hurdles of newness, usefulness and nonobviousness and the patent is issued, he will have the exclusive right to use or market, or even to prohibit the use and marketing, of that particular formula or design for 17 years. Even if another inventor invented the same product or process without knowledge of the first invention, he could be precluded from merchandising his invention because of the registered patent. Patents also protect the inventor, not only from other legitimate inventors, but from entities using "reverse technology.” With reverse technology, someone buys the patented product and then takes it apart or otherwise analyzes it to learn how it works. Knowledge of how the invention works will only be useful at the expiration of the patent period. At the end of the patent period, the patent owner’s exclusive rights expire and the formula or design is available for any entity to use in manufacturing a product. The purpose of the limited exclusive use is to encourage inventions which benefit society by giving the owner of the patent a limited period of time in which to exploit his exclusive rights in the invention. Because the invention is considered to be of benefit to society, however, the exclusivity of rights is limited. Note that the patent owner may not be the inventor of the formula or design. Many times the actual inventor works for a company which, through its agreement with that inventor, pays the inventor to develop new ideas. Any ideas which the inventor develops, however, would be the property of the company, rather than the inventor. Even if the inventor is not subject to such an agreement, however, he may sell or otherwise transfer his rights in the invention to a third party because the process of obtaining a patent can be both time consuming and costly. When establishing the right to a patent, the applicant must establish how it became the owner of the invention. The above gives you an introduction to patent law. Our next article will deal with the issue of copyright protection. Emil W. Herman, Esq., is general counsel for William Penn Association and senior member of the Pittsburgh law firm of Rothman Gordon Foreman & Groudine, P.C. WPA issues last call for June tour NORTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — Still haven’t made your summer vacation plans? Then why not join the William Penn on one of two tours to Hungary and Austria it will be sponsoring this year. Spaces are still available for the first tour which is scheduled for June 16 to 30. However, all reservations for this tour are due immediately so that the necessary arrangements can be completed. Anyone interested in traveling with our tour group in June should call Fugazy International Travel today, toll free, at 1-800- 828-4488 (New Jersey residents can call 1-908-828-4488). Those who cannot travel in June are welcome to sign up for our second tour scheduled for Sept. 13 to 27. Both tours will leave from New York and land in Vienna, Austria, where guests will enjoy a two-day stay. Each tour will then move on to explore Hungary with visits to Esterházy Castle, Lake Balaton, the Herend porcelain factory and museum, the Tokaj wine region, the Buda Hills and the Danube Bend. Each tour will also include a four-day, four-night stay in Budapest during which guests will enjoy a dinner cruise along the Danube River and a gala farewell banquet. There will be English-speaking tour guides accompanying guests throughout the entire tour. The cost for either tour is $2,949 per person*, based on double occupancy. The tour price includes round-trip airfare from New York, all hotels, breakfast daily, 10 lunches, 10 dinners, the farewell banquet, the dinner cruise, ground transportation in Europe and all sightseeing tours on the itinerary. Again, to reserve your space on the June tour, call Fugazy International Travel at the number listed above. To reserve your space on the September tour, complete the reservation form found in this issue and send it, along with your deposit of $350 per person, to: Fugazy International Travel, 770 U.S. Highway No. 1, North Brunswick, NJ 08902. Please make your check payable to "Fugazy International Travel.” *As this issue went to press, the airfares in most cities were reduced. Participants who have already signed up will receive refunds. Call Fugazy Travel at the number above for more information. WILLIAM PENN ASSOCIATION HUNGARY TOUR ’94 RESERVATION FORM FULL NAME: ADDRESS: CITY: STATE: ZIP: PHONE: (Home)_____________________________(Work)___________________ PLEASE RESERVE MY SPACE ON THE FOLLOWING TOUR: (Please check one only) □ TOUR #1 - JUNE 16 TO JUNE 30,1994 □ TOUR #2-SEPTEMBER 13 TO SEPTEMBER 27, 1994 ACCOMMODATIONS: □ DOUBLE OCCUPANCY - $2,949.00 PER PERSON* □ SINGLE OCCUPANCY - $3,449.00 PER PERSON* CITY OF DEPARTURE: SIGNATURE: Send this form along with your deposit of $350.00 per person payable to: “Fugazy International Travel” to: William Penn Hungary Tour, Fugazy International Travel 770 U.S. Highway No. 1, North Brunswick, NJ 08902 'Prices are for New York departure. All airfares are subject to change without notice. Land prices guaranteed at time of booking. PLEASE, one person per form. Copies of this form may be made.
