The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) In order to get a patent or trademark or to register a copyright in America, inventors, creators, and artists must apply through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Alexandria, Virginia; in general, patents are only effective in the country for which they are granted. Ever since the first U.S. patent was granted in 1790 to Samuel Hopkins of Philadelphia for making pot and pearl ashes- a cleaning formula used in soapmaking- over eight million patents have been registered in at the USPTO. A patent gives an inventor the right to exclude all others from making, using, importing, selling, or offering to sell the invention for up to 20 years without the inventors permission- however, a patent is not required to sell a product or process, it simply protects these inventions from being stolen. This gives the inventor the opportunity to produce and market the invention himself, or license others to do so, and to make a profit. However, a patent does not guarantee monetary success by itself. An inventor gets paid by either selling the invention or by licensing or selling (assigning) the patent rights to someone else. Not all inventions are commercially successful, and in fact, the invention may actually cost the inventor more money than he or she makes unless a strong business and marketing plan is created. Patent Requirements One of the most-often overlooked requirements for submitting a successful patent is the cost associated, which can be very high for some people. Although fees for the patent application, issue, and maintenance are reduced by 50 percent when the applicant is a small business or individual inventor, you can expect to pay the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office a minimum of about $4,000 over the life of the patent. A patent may be obtained for any new, useful, unobvious invention, though it generally cannot be obtained for the laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas; a new mineral or a new plant found in the wild; inventions useful solely in the utilization of special nuclear material or atomic energy for weapons; a machine that is not useful; printed matter; or human beings. There are specific requirements for all patent applications. An application must include a specification, including a description and claim(s); an oath or declaration identifying the applicant(s) believing to be the original inventor(s); a drawing when necessary; and the filing fee. Prior to 1870, a model of the invention was required as well, but today, a model is almost never required. Naming an invention- another requirement of submitting a patent- actually involves developing at least two names: the generic name and the brand name or trademark. For example, Pepsi ® and Coke ® are brand names; cola or soda  is  the generic or product name. Big Mac ® and Whopper ® are brand names; hamburger is the generic or product name. Nike ® and Reebok ® are brand names; sneaker or athletic shoe are generic or product names. Time is another factor of patent requests. In general, it takes the  6,500 employees of the USPTO upwards of 22 months to process and approve a patent application, and oftentimes this time can be longer since many first drafts of patents are rejected and need to be sent back with corrections. There are no age restrictions on applying for a patent, but only the true inventor is entitled to a patent, and the youngest person to be granted a patent is a four-year-old girl from Houston, Texas, for aid for grasping round knobs. Proving an Original Invention Another requirement of all applications for patents is that the product or process being patented must be unique in that no other similar inventions have been patented before it. When the Patent and Trademark Office receives two patent applications for the same inventions, the cases go into an interference proceeding. The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences then determines the first inventor who thus may be entitled to a patent based on the information provided by the inventors, which is why it is so important for inventors to keep good records. Inventors can make a search of patents already granted, textbooks, journals, and other publications to be sure that someone else has not already invented their idea. They can also hire someone to do it for them or may do this themselves at the Public Search Room of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Arlington, Virginia, on the PTO web page on the Internet, or at one of the Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries across the country. Similarly, with trademarks, the USPTO determines whether there is a conflict between two marks by evaluating whether consumers would be likely to confuse the goods or services of one party with those of the other party as a result of the use of the marks at issue by both parties. Patent Pending and the Risk of Not Having a Patent Patent Pending is a phrase that often appears on manufactured items. It means that someone has applied for a patent on an invention that is contained in the manufactured item and serves as a warning that a patent may issue that would cover the item and that copiers should be careful because they might infringe if the patent issues. Once the patent is approved, the patent owner will stop using the phrase patent pending and start using a phrase such as covered by U.S. Patent Number XXXXXXX. Applying the patent pending phrase to an item when no patent application has been made can result in a fine from the USPTO. Although you do not need to have a patent to sell an invention in the United States, you run the risk of someone stealing your idea and marketing themselves if you do not get one. In some cases, you could keep your invention a secret like the Coca-Cola Company keeps the formula for Coke a secret, which is called a trade secret, but otherwise, without a patent, you run a risk of someone else copying your invention with no rewards to you as the inventor. If you do have a patent and think someone has infringed on your patent rights, then you can sue that person or company in federal court and get reparations for profits lost as well as claim their profits from selling your patented product or process. Renewing or Removing Patents You cant renew a patent after it expires. However, patents may be extended by a special act of Congress and under certain  circumstances, certain pharmaceutical patents may be extended to make up the time lost during the Food and Drug Administrations approval process. After the patent expires, the inventor loses exclusive rights to the invention. An inventor probably wouldnt want to lose patent rights on a product. However, a patent may be lost if determined to be invalid by the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks. For example, as a result of a  reexamination  proceeding or if the patentee fails to pay the required maintenance fees the patent may be lost; a court may also determine that a patent invalid. In any case, each employee at the Patent and Trademark Office takes an oath of office to uphold the laws of the United States and are prohibited from applying for patents themselves, so you can be sure to trust these individuals with your new invention- no matter how great or stealable you may think it is!

Cause and Effect Essay

Cause and Effect Essay Cause and effect essay writing gives reasons and explanations for events, conditions, or behavior. Cause and effect essay is a type of essays that centers on why things occur (causes) and the outcomes of the happenings (effects). Cause-and-effect writing gives reasons and explanations for events, conditions, or behavior. It answers the need most of us have to understand the world around us. If you are looking for cause and effect essay examples here is a great one CAUSE AND EFFECT ESSAY EXAMPLE: GREAT DEPRESSION Cause and effect essays are popular ways of helping students understand the relationship between various events. They’re extremely popular in history classes, although students are certainly going to encounter them in English and writing classes as well. English and writing classes are often geared towards helping students be better at critical thinking in general, and cause and effect essays can serve as excellent critical thinking exercises in general. Cause and effect essays are starting to become more popular than the five-paragraph essays that many people have had to learn over the years, for various reasons. The traditional five paragraph essay format is highly formulaic. It doesn’t truly prepare students for the sort of advanced writing skills that they are really going to need. It encourages people to write in a manner that is highly artificial. In many cases, students do not provide enough evidence for their points. The cause and effect essay is much better when it comes to promoting critical thinking skills in the minds of students, which has helped make it the new star of academic writing today. CAUSE AND EFFECT ESSAY OUTLINE Writing a Cause and Effect Essay Often times, a cause and effect essay is going to involve people selecting an event that had a given list of defined consequences. Certain events are going to make for richer essays than others. The cause and effect relationship between the events and the consequences needs to be strong enough, or the essay is going to feel unfocused and vague. One popular example of an event to write about in a cause and effect essay in classrooms in the United States is the American Civil War. Students will then list the causes of the American Civil War when they are in the planning stages of the cause and effect essay. From there, they will formulate thesis statements and build the rest of their essays. Another popular essay topic for students who can write about more recent history might be the crime wave that lasted between 1975 and 1995. Students might look at what caused this crime wave. They also might look at what eventually led to the end of the crime wave. This sort of cause and effect relationship is ripe for analysis, especially since there are a lot of specific trends that have helped mark the beginning and end of the infamous period in late-twentieth-century American history. A student might say: the late-twentieth century crime wave ended as a result of improved forensic techniques, improved social welfare programs, increases in surveillance, and increased awareness. With regards to the Civil War, and student might say: the Civil War was caused by increasing tensions between the Northern and Southern regions of the United States and the South’s desire to expand slavery throughout the country, as well as the South’s fear that slavery would eventually be eliminated if the spread was curtailed. Compose a  thesis statement  that clearly states your topic. Because cause-and-effect essays need a readily identifiable structure, you will almost always write the essay in chronological order. Sometimes, however, you will use reverse chronological order. For example, you might begin with an effect or a series of effects and trace them back to their original cause. Whatever organization you use, write paragraphs with strong, clear topic sentences and relevant supporting details.  The thesis statement for an essay that was about the American Civil War could be more general, with something along the lines of two halves of a nation that have very different economies and ideas of how to run a society are going to face strong conflicts with one another. A student would then go into detail about how the conflicts between the North and the South had been brewing for a long time before the Civil War finally erupted, and the Civil War was the culmination of all of those tensions. Diffe rent pieces of evidence are going to belong in the cause section, and different pieces of evidence are going to belong in the effects section. Naturally, it is also important to illustrate the effects in question. The American Civil War was so substantial in terms of its consequences for the American people that some of the effects are still being felt today since the South never truly reconstructed and both halves of the United States still face political conflicts with one another to this day. The reader should walk away with that impression, at least after reading the effects section and the section of the essay that describes the cause and effect relationship. HOW TO WRITE A CAUSE AND EFFECT ESSAY Cause and Effect Essay Writing Tips TIP 1. People who are having a hard time identifying a clear consequence of the given events should choose a new topic, if possible. There are lots of examples out there, and no one needs to waste any time trying to argue in favor of a point that is going to be too difficult to properly state in an essay that is really about logical understanding more than anything else. TIP 2. It is a good idea to have at least two or three pieces of evidence in support of why a given effect logically followed from the cause in question. The entire essay should not hinge on a few data points. TIP 3. Smooth transitions between paragraphs are just as important in cause and effect essays as they are in five paragraph essays, even though the ideas between them are not going to be anywhere near as clear cut. TIP 4. There are no hard and solid rules on the length of cause and effect essays, which is not the case with the five-paragraph essays that people will either love or loathe. Those essays will usually have to be one page long. Unless there are any specific requirements, cause and effect essays can be a couple of pages long or longer than that, and they are still going to be just as good. TIP 5. It is important not to include a lot of meandering details in cause and effect essays that do not specifically relate to the point or reinforce the point. Cause and effect essays can be longer than five-paragraph essays, but they are not the sorts of essays that are going to need filler content. Being clear and straightforward is going to matter more. The details are going to need to relate to reinforcing the cause and effect relationship that is at the heart of the cause and effect essay. 50 WINNING CAUSE AND EFFECT ESSAY TOPICS Signal Words in Cause-and-Effect Writing Cause and Effect as a result because consequently due to ifthen leads to therefore thus Degrees of Certainty certainly may necessarily perhaps possibly probably undoubtedly unquestionably Levels of Importance above all equally important finally first initially last primarily second We have successfully completed hundreds of cause and effect essays and know how to craft a superb paper. Achieve great academic success   order an essay  at !

The role of bureaucracy in economic development in Argentina Essay

The role of bureaucracy in economic development in Argentina - Essay Example Though bureaucracy in administration whether public or governmental has always given rise to many problems, but still there are hopes that a "brand new" bureaucracy has a long way to go towards economic development and consolidation of its institutions (Ducote, World Governance Survey) In circumstances where the slow process of Argentina's economic decline which intensified after World War II remained unable to get back to the colonial times, after 1853 was modernized. The early 20th century was the most favourable time when amazing progress was carried out at the political and economic level. Despite attaining independence from Spain, Argentina after spending many decades under the influence of Spanish democratic government continued with constitution with the old colonial features which began to reappear in Argentine administration (Hamilton, 2005). The integrated formulation predicts that the shift from populist authoritarian rule (1952) and to bureaucratic-authoritarian rule (1966) should not have produced fundamental policy changes in certain areas. These areas comprised of military in ad hoc provision, welfare and public works programs and a depoliticized system. By the early 1950s, cabinet instability had become chronic with a large scale development of a highly unionized public bureaucracy. The bureaucracy caused many problems like development of the cyclical balance-of-payments, foreign exchange. The economic inflation problems along with a combination of the cumbersome and inefficient public bureaucracy caused drainage of the resources elites had at their command (Most & Rienner, 1991, p. 67). Despite the impressive economic achievements since Independence, the re-emergence of colonial practices condemned Argentina to a trajectory of underdevelopment that could not be reversed by the democratic administrations of the 1990s. Background - The role of Military in Bureaucracy Military organizations were complex bureaucracies that uphold functional divisions. Those divisions affect not only the ways in which the military organizes work but also the ways in which it may fracture in the face of other kinds of challenges. (Norden, 1996, p. 108) The ad hoc military's role in the government should have been largely provisional. The size and complexity of the government should have increased as a result of the initiation and expansion of a variety of welfare and public works programs during the populist period without any concerted efforts to reorganize or control the growing bureaucracy. The impact of such developments on the bureaucratic-authoritarian coalition of the post-1966 period should have attempted to establish an exclusionary and depoliticized system. The military members of the bureaucratic authoritarian coalition should have unified themselves and taken control of the government with a view to establishing a more or less permanent military dictatorship. The technocrats of the bureaucratic authoritarian coalition should have rejected the political bargaining, electioneering, and pressure group politics that distorted earlier efforts at objective policymaking. The technocrats therefore decided to reorganize the sta te, increase its operating efficiency, and 'rationalize' its policymaking. The shift from the autocratic to bureaucratic Government was not supposed to have produced fundamental

Learning Is Business at Nokia Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Learning Is Business at Nokia - Case Study Example The 50,000 employee workforce must align their vision to ensure the company succeeds. Nokia Corporation has a great philosophical approach that encourages continuous learning. One method that the company is utilizing which can effectively improve the capabilities and skills of the staff at an accelerate pace is e-learning initiatives. The problem with e-learning initiatives is that they don’t provide the human touch needed at times for the learning experience to feel real. The company should extend its current utilization of project teams to formulate strategic hundreds or even thousands of strategic team units. Every employee should be part of a strategic team unit. Teams should meet for at least one hour a week to discuss company business. A team leader should provide a one to two page summary of the brainstorming performed. The data would then be uploaded into a company intranet to be evaluated by the managerial staff. A systematic problem the company faces is finding an efficient manner to promote the company’s idealistic approach of knowledge sharing. The first step towards creating an environment that fosters this type of learning is for the lines of communication to be completely open between the floor workers and the supervisors. If the employees feel comfortable they will speak out their minds. The human resource staff must interview every single employee in order to learn the best path to achieve a proper professional development path for each employee. Due to the fact that the company has over 50,000 this task might be difficult to achieve. An alternative solution is for the HR staff to prepare collective seminars to reach out employees 100 of them at a time and provide them with an orientation on how to better themselves professionally. Even though Nokia has a clear strategic plan to provide support for learning this does not imply that the company will reap the benefits if does not differentiate between support for

Cultural Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Cultural Evaluation - Essay Example India is a diverse country with having deep rooted traditions, culture, and religion which lives with one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Cohen (2001) once said, â€Å"India is an ancient state but a modern civilization.† Globalization has affected India and its culture. â€Å"India is particularistic, communitarians, diffuse, outer-directed culture that favors ascribed status and has a synchronous perception of time.† (Overgaard, 2010) The deeply rooted traditions and cultures within every part of India are gradually changing due to this phenomenon as well as the moral values of the country. Furthermore, the whole system within this country is affected including the caste system, karma, and the eternal religion. Due to this, India has resulted in a more modern having urbanized Indians who are living a life with the ancient tradition, culture, and values even after trying to change their living way according to the Western lifestyle. But they have kept a hold to some values, tradition, and culture such as religion which is important. According to Tarakeshwar, Nalini et al., (2003), religion is a very important aspect of culture and a crucial factor when it comes to analyzing culture and predicting people’s behavior. Moreover, India has developed itself and its values to ascribed status which is connected to particularism. They caste system would have failed, had India been a universalistic culture nation. Therefore, it is said that youth of the nation will now be self dependent, individual, cosmopolite, and they would belong to a global culture. This proves the fact that India and its culture is still Westernizing. â€Å"There is, apparently, an underlying assumption in the Indian tradition that no individual can claim to have seen the truth for the first time and, therefore, that an individual can only explicate, state, and defend in a new form a truth that has been seen, stated, and defended by countless others before

12 Angry Men Movie Analysis Essay Example for Free

12 Angry Men Movie Analysis Essay After the jurors go to the meeting room to discuss and arrive at consensus whether the young boy is guilty or not, we get to see different personalities combined to form a group to resolve the issue. Initially 11 out of 12 jurors voted in favour of boy being guilty. Therefore, first prominent thing I noticed was that there was lack of conviction about the criticality of the issue. People had already formed their judgement before they stepped into the meeting room. They believed the testimonies of several eyewitnesses and the arguments of the prosecutor leading to the conclusion that the boy was guilty. In the beginning, 11 out of 12 jurors were not sensitive about the seriousness of the decision they were going to make and the impact it was going to have on the young boy’s life. They were not ready to waste any time over discussing that issue because they had already perceived the young boy guilty based on his background and crimes he committed before as well as the jurors’ previous experiences in life. See more:Â  Manifest Destiny essay When the protagonist in the movie showed opposition to agree the boy’s guilt, then the rest of the people became frustrated since they had to come to consensus to give a judgement. This showed the conviction and thoughtfulness of the protagonist to the criticality of their objective as jurors. It was also evident that being a minority does not mean you have to go majority’s way under the influence or pressure of majority against your wish. After listening to the protagonist, juror started changing their original guilty decision one by one. This showed their willingness to change their stance having been convinced by the protagonist’s logic. Protagonist stuck to the practicality of the situation and logic in order to bring the possible flaws in the testimonies of the eye witnesses by reproducing the situations and verifying the possibility of authenticity of the testimony. In doing so, he influenced the members of the group that there are lacunae in the testimonies, and the benefit of doubt needs to be given to the boy when it is a matter of his life and death. The various people in the group started applying their mind and making sense of the possible flaws in the testimonies. Many started to pitch in their ideas and the protagonist was listening to them all and using them to strengthen his hypothesis of uncertainty about boy being guilty. Now they started utilizing the resources in the group to make the most informed decision. The group dynamics was at work the best. They were supplementing each other’s logic by their own logic in order to make a conclusion of the veracity of the evidence and its testimony. There were a couple of aggressive people in the group. When one of them lashed out at the old man in the group, another person intervened and warned him not to repeat insulting behaviour. Thus, along the way the group stated forming norms about the behaviour in the group. Also, when one man changed his judgement just for the sake of it in order to come to consensus sooner than later, then another person made it a point to him by saying that he needed to present his logic for changing his decision and he did not want to accept his ‘yes’ or ‘no’ just for the sake of it. Some people engaged themselves in social loafing without regard to the seriousness of the objective; they were reminded of the objective by others. Last person son left so he was seeing his son in the young boy.

Equal Rights for All Essay -- Gay Marriage Homosexuality Essays

Equal Rights for All Gay marriage has always been a subject of great controversy. Andrew Sullivan addresses this issue in his persuasive essay entitled â€Å"Let Gays Marry.† Sullivan’s essay appeared in Newsweek in June of 1996. Through his problem/solution structure of this essay, Sullivan uses rhetorical appeals to try and persuade the audience to accept gay marriage as a natural part of life. Sullivan, an editor of The New Republic, also wrote Virtually Normal: An Argument about Homosexuality (26). Andrew Sullivan, who is openly gay himself, is a devout Catholic who has spent his life researching subjects involving the gay community. His articles are simply ways for him to show his feelings to the general public. His audience for â€Å"Let Gays Marry† is the general public, but could be more specifically written for gays who are too scared to stand up for the rights for gays to marry. He may have written this essay to inform the public how gays feel about the issue of marriage, but also to encourage gays to stand up for their rights as Americans. â€Å"Let Gays Marry† is structured in a problem/solution format. Sullivan takes the issue of gays not being able to legally marry and offers a solution to the people of America. He addresses the issue that gays are not treated the same as other Americans in the issue of marriage and proposes that same-sex marriages become legal in order to solve this problem (26). Sullivan also knows that Americans believe that having same sex marriages would be against religious values (26). He then explains that gays don’t want to change anyone else’s beliefs, but simply want to live happily like other married couples in the United States (26). The last issue addres... ...rica changed (26). Marriage has come a long way within the last century and should continue to modernize along with the people of America. Andrew Sullivan uses many strategies to try to fully inform his audience of the rights of the gay community. Sullivan uses rhetorical appeals to persuade his audience to see his view of same-sex marriages. Sullivan successfully shows his side of the argument and confronts faults that others may see with his views. Using his problem/solution format, Sullivan resolves the problems that many Americans assume would accompany the legalization of same-sex marriages. Through his essay, Sullivan hopes to show to the general public that legalizing gay marriage is a natural step that must be taken in order to support the growth of America. Works Cited Sullivan, Andrew. â€Å"Let Gays Marry.† Newsweek 3 June 1996: 26.