Читать книгу Intellectual Property Law for Engineers, Scientists, and Entrepreneurs - Howard B. Rockman - Страница 137

You will recall from earlier chapters that from the year 1793 until 1836, there was no patent examination system in the United States, and inventors were merely required to furnish the government with a description of their invention, and the government would then register that explanation. This procedure caused immense difficulty when infringers were brought to court, and the court had the burden of determining just what the inventor was claiming as his or her invention, without any direct statement in the registration certificate that defined the novel point or points of the invention. Thus, the courts had no knowledge of the prior art against which the novelty of the “invention” could be measured.

This system changed in 1836, owing to the efforts primarily of Senator John Ruggles of Maine. Congress created a Patent Office and an examination system, and inventors were required not only to describe their invention in their applications for a patent, they had to specifically set forth what it was they were urging as novel over the prior art. The requirements of the system today are basically the same as established in 1836, even as the level of technology has increased approximately one hundred fold. One of my favorite tests to measure advances in technology between 1836 and the present is to determine how fast a human being could possibly travel in 1836 using any means possible, for example, a horse, and how fast a human being can travel today using any means possible, for example, an orbiting space shuttle. The answer may stagger your imagination.