Wireless Mobile Devices Patents

1. Wireless Mobile Devices Patents Dr. Tal Lavian http://cs.berkeley.edu/~tlavian tlavian@cs.berkeley.edu UC Berkeley Engineering, CET Week 3

2. Wireless Mobile Device Patent Areas

3. MTSO MTSO HLR VLR HLR VLR To other MTSOs PSTN PSTN Wireless Mobile Device Patent Areas (contd.) Source: ieeexplore.ieee.org

4. What is a Patent? A form of intellectual property A grant of an exclusionary property right to an inventor by the government Prevents the use of an invention by others for the duration of the patent In return, the inventor must fully disclose the details of the invention to the public (the quid pro quo)

5. What is a Patent? (Contd.) Protects an idea, not an implementation Patent owner can keep others from using the invention (they would be infringing) or license it Patent ownership (assignment) can be bought and sold or traded

6. What is a Patent (Contd.) Right to exclude the making, using, selling, offering for sale or importation of an invention (may not “infringe”) Limited time (typically 20 years from the date of filing with USPTO)‏ Limited geographic territory (issuing country)‏ Monopoly awarded by the government forsharing the invention with the public

7. About USPTO Go to: www.uspto.gov For example, you can search patents on this website #5, 778, 372 – “Remote retrieval and display management of electronic document with incorporated images.” #6, 339, 780 – “Loading status in a hypermedia browser having a limited available display area.” #5, 889, 522 – “System provided child window controls.”

8. Innovation: Long-term Health You need a healthy root system for the tree to flourish!

9. What Can Be Patented for Wireless Mobile Devices? • “Everything under the sun made by man.” • Products: things • Processes: ways to make things • Methods: ways to do things • Improvements: better things • Software and operating system

10. MTSO MTSO HLR VLR HLR VLR To other MTSOs PSTN PSTN What Can Be Patented for Wireless Mobile Devices? • Defined Classes • Article of Manufacture • Machine • Composition • Process • Some more: • Business Methods • Services

11. Important parts of a Patent Application http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2005/12/what_are_the_pa.html

12. Patent Documentation

13. Important parts of a Patent –for a Startup http://mashable.com/2012/08/29/3-parts-of-a-patent-every-startup-should-know-about/

14. What is Not Patentable • Laws of nature (wind, gravity)‏ • Physical phenomena (sand, water)‏ • Abstract ideas (mathematics, a philosophy) • Algorithms (e.g., abstract math) • Anything not useful, novel and non-obvious (perpetual motion machine)‏ • Inventions which are offensive to public morality or designed for an illegal activity • Inventions that cannot be implemented usingcurrent technology (enablement)‏

15. Types of Patents • Design • The distinctive look • Plant • New or discovered asexually reproduced plant • Utility Patent • Process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, improvements

16. Types of Patents

17. Types of Patents (Contd.) • Design • The distinctive look • Plant • New or discovered asexually reproduced plant • Utility Patent • Process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, improvements

18. Design Patent Example(What are the differences from a Utility Patent?) Electronic Page Turning http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/19/3659382/apple-design-patent-on-virtual-page-turn

19. Design Patent Example Electronic Page Turning http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/19/3659382/apple-design-patent-on-virtual-page-turn

20. Utility Patents • Most applicable to electronics and software engineers • Usually the most valuable, complex and difficult to obtain • Must satisfy key criteria: • Invention must be • Useful • Novel • Non-obvious

21. Patents Must Be Useful • Useful – process, method • Meets a need or solves a problem • Fills current or anticipated need • Can be “reduced to practice”, operated or enabled( e.g., can be built and function)‏ • Can be an improvement (better mousetrap)‏

22. Utility Patents Must Be Novel • Must be new • Not done before in substantially the same way • No “Prior Art” • Not known to the public before it was invented • Not described in a publication (*)‏ • Not used or offered for sale publicly (*)‏ • Includes your own work • * more than one year before filing patent application

23. Novelty Considerations • How “broad” is the invention • What problem it solves • How it solves the problem • If the structure is known, are elements used in a new way? • If the function is known, is a new problem solved?

24. Utility Patents Must Be Non-Obvious • Would not have been obvious to one “skilled in the art” to do this • Includes combining different prior art • Must not be trivial or insignificant • Examples • Substituting one material for another • Changing the size (miniaturization)‏ • Changing implementation (software or hardware, custom ASIC)‏

25. How Much Prior Art • For Anticipation • A single piece of prior art practices all the elements of a (single) claim (e.g., the claim “reads on” this single reference) • For Obviousness • Usually more than one reference used to practice the claim • Could be one reference PLUS the knowledge of the “Person Having Ordinary Skill in the Art”, aka PHOSITA

26. Secondary ConsiderationsIn Addition to Prior Art • The invention's commercial success • Long-felt but unresolved needs • Previous failure of others • Skepticism by experts • Praise by others • Teaching away by others • Solves an unrecognized problem • Solves an insoluble problem • Copying of the invention by competitors • Omission of an element • Crowded art • Not suggested modification • Unappreciated advantage