Читать книгу Intellectual Property Law for Engineers, Scientists, and Entrepreneurs - Howard B. Rockman - Страница 53

The first patent law established by the Congress of the United States was the Patent Act of 1790, which created an examination system that was way ahead of its time. This examination system and law lasted only 3 years, and was repealed by the Patent Act of 1793, which, in turn, established a registration system rather than the prior short‐lived examination system, which registration system was somewhat similar to the English system at that time. Apparently, the time and expense of running a patent examination system in 1790 was too much for the young government, and delays and frustration eventually occurred. In the next 43 years, five additional patent acts were passed, but all for the purpose of correcting some perceived deficiency in the existing legislation.

Under the Act of 1793, inventors would be required merely to submit written statements describing their invention, and the government would register those statements. The flaw in this system was that the courts were left to interpret what exactly was covered by the statements submitted by inventors and developers in view of infringements that may or may not have exactly corresponded to the material submitted and covered by the letters patent. It was also difficult to determine from the inventor’s statement what was new about an invention in comparison to what was previously known and in the public domain.

After many years of having courts wrestle with trying to determine what the actual invention was, based upon the inventor’s description of the invention covered by the certificate of registration, with no examination by the government to define the limits of the grant, the modern Patent Act was enacted in 1836, which set up a Patent Office charged with responsibility for the examination of the novelty, utility, and importance of an invention, and established the office of the Commissioner of Patents to oversee the new examination system. This law also embodied the prior court‐established rules for submitting specifications setting forth the invention, stating precisely what it was that the inventor saw as the “novelty” or “invention” covered by the patent grant. The requirements of a written specification, and a statement or statements defining the scope of the invention, and its novel features, were created from the previous court decisions and enacted in the Patent Act of 1836. In a subsequently enacted patent statute, a patent application was required to specifically “claim” or state the subject matter of the invention in separate claims forming part of the patent application. The difference between the former registration system and the new examination system of 1836 was that, under the registration system, the courts developed the entire body of patent law in the United States, without any assistance or guidance from Congress. Beginning in 1836, with the enactment of a comprehensive legislative act, Congress set forth the standards of patentability and patentable subject matter to guide the courts, as well as inventors. It is this examination system, with the established law guiding the courts, that is in existence today and comprises the U.S. patent system with various amendments over the years.