WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How Patents Work 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:05.560 Hey, everybody, it's your old pal me Josh, and I 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:08.119 am here to bring you today's s Y s K 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:12.160 Selects episode called How Patents Work. It sounds like it 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:14.840 will make your eyes bleed out of boredom, but do 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:17.479 not get it wrong. It's actually one of our most 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:23.040 interesting episodes ever. And it is seriously, sincerely, honestly everything 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:26.120 you could ever possibly want to know about patents. And 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.840 I would guess that we've never said the word patent 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:32.720 more than we do in this episode, So enjoy it. 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:35.720 It's from November of two thousand fourteen. Take a little 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:46.000 time to learn about patents. Welcome to Stuff you Should 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:54.800 Know from House Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:59.160 to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:02.520 and and this is stuff you should know. There's Jerry too. 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:10.759 By the way, Jerry, he's ready for January. Me, uh, yeah, 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:14.880 you're ready for a new year. I'm ready for this 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:18.679 year to be done. Yeah. I think it's been kind 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:22.080 of cool year. No, it's been fun. I'm just I'm tired. 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.520 I feel i'd be much more rested in it's October. 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:29.000 You know, you've got a little ways to go, I know, 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:31.000 and this is my favorite month too. I'm just kind 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:35.520 of a drag so tired, you hippie, you're gonna start 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:37.960 saying far out next starting to it is far out, 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.800 so Chuck, Yes, I'm very curious. Do you have any 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:45.680 patents to your name? Now? Man, I'm not. I don't 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:48.520 have an inventive mind. I don't either. My brother does, 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:51.800 and he has had some good ideas that have later 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.520 been made into inventions. Why didn't he patent him? I 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.720 don't know. Man. Every every time I see a new one, 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:00.400 I sent it to him, say hey, I remember when 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:03.480 he had this idea twelve years ago, Scott, Yeah, what 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.920 are you doing? You know? Well, he's got a bunch 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.600 of pinball tables, so he's doing all right. He doesn't 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:12.600 own the patent on them though, Um no, but he could, 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:16.920 you know why, because it's America, that's right. So it 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:19.840 turns out, Chuck um and doing a little bit of research, 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:26.680 that there's mention of patents and patent protection in the Constitution, 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:30.119 not even the Bill of Rights. Freedom of speech isn't 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:32.360 even mentioned in the constitutions in the Bill of Rights, 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.120 but patent protection is in the Constitution Article one Section eight, 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:39.160 Clause eight, which is known as the Intellectual Property Clause, 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:43.160 and it says, quote, Congress shall have the power ellipse 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:47.079 to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing, 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.480 for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.560 to their respective writings and discoveries. And since this is 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.440 the late eighteenth century, a lot of that stuff was 0:02:56.520 --> 0:02:59.880 just like randomly capitalized, like a sixth grader wrote it 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.359 something right, And my apologies to all of you six 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.959 great listeners out there who know your capitalization, like we 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:09.280 love proper now. So um, it's in the constitution. Like, 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:12.880 if you invent something that's new and novel and cool, 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:17.480 we think you should have some sort of government sanctioned 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.919 monopoly over that, at least for a limited amount of time. 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:25.560 You know why Why because very early on the United 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:31.960 States said we want to encourage uh inventiveness and forward thinking, 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:37.800 an entrepreneurship and great ideas. They were on board pretty early. 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:39.880 Even though it's a sort of a mess these days, 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.640 which we'll talk about against the end, yea, we will, yeah, 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:44.920 but yeah, the whole point, the whole purpose of a 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:48.800 patent system, and apparently every it's one of the hallmarks 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:55.560 of the m of the modern society, I guess, is 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:59.560 to have a patent office. It says we value innovation, 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:05.800 we value technological progress, artistic progress, um. And we're going 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:11.800 to show a commitment to that by by basically saying 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.800 you you have again, I guess the best way to 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:16.680 put it as a monopoly on your invention for a 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:21.240 limited amount of time. And it hearkens back. Um. Apparently 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:25.320 the first patent was issued in fourteen forty nine in 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:29.680 jolly old England by King Henry the sixth, who gave 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:34.480 it to a guy who didn't even have a last name. Well, yeah, 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:37.880 sure of Utnam is not a last name. That's where 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:42.200 you're from. Sounds like I'm Josh of Toledo. I'm just 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:46.479 saying this medieval is not the sixteenth century. Uh No, 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:51.600 it's not so. John of Unham got a patent from 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:55.719 King Henry the sixth for stained glass manufacturing. Yeah, back 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.880 then patents in England were it was a little bit different. 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:01.880 It was more like, Hey, we want to protect the 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.640 crown and our country and our good friends and are 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:09.039 good good friends of the crown, and um make sure 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:11.440 that if they have an idea that we can go 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.080 after anyone else in any other country, even if it's 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:17.039 something like stained glass that's already clearly being done in 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.880 places like Italy. Right. It was basically like, you know, officially, 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:23.200 are the only person who can make stained glass. It 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.480 was a bit of a sham. Yeah, they would. They 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:28.840 would give out patents not just on an item or 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:32.760 an idea or an invention, but like a whole industry. 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:35.760 So like this, somebody held the patent on the publishing 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:38.720 industry for a while and apparently got out of hand 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.560 because it was just royal prerogative left and right. And yeah, 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:45.240 it didn't last that long though. By the six four 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.800 they started to pass statutes and laws to try and 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:52.320 curb that abuse of power. Um, anyway they could and 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:54.400 make it a little more like the patent system that 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:56.880 we know and support today. Yeah, they were like, the 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:01.599 Crown can't give out patents unless it's for new invention. Yeah. 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:03.880 So yeah, that that is very similar to what we 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:07.640 have today. Um. So right off the bat, America's like 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:11.560 new country. We're setting up a patent office. Um. And 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:13.680 the first person to get a patent in the United 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:17.400 States was one Samuel Hopkins. Hopkins is the last name 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:25.040 not Samuel of Pittsburgh, Samuel Hopkins. Yeah, he got a 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.240 patent for UM an improvement in making in the making 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.440 of potash. Is that potash or potash? I don't know. 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:34.640 I said it eight different ways in my head earlier. 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:39.960 Well one of those is right, yes, um. And so 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.960 he held the first patent. Actually, the person that reviewed 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.560 his patent was a man named Thomas Jefferson. Yeah. He 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:48.360 was big on innovation, as was Lincoln, and Lincoln is 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:51.240 the only president to actually hold a patent. UM. He 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.360 got a boat stuck one time in the river and said, hey, 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:56.440 that'd be neat if we could find a way to 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:59.680 not get boats stuck, right, So he devised the system 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.960 to unstick boats when they were stuck on a sandbar 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.040 for the river was too shallow or something. Yeah, by 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:09.279 inflating some booie's that would just basically let you float over. 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.080 And they were like, President Lincoln, that's a great idea, 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:13.400 here's your patents. Well he was a congressman at the time, 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:15.840 but yeah, he's the only president to hold a patent. Uh. 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:19.600 And then Jefferson handled the application process for a while 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:23.280 before passing it off to UM. You know, other cabinet members. 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:25.360 And then eventually they're like, you know what, we this 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:27.720 is all out of hand. We need to establish our 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.360 own patent office and did so an eighteen o two. Yeah. 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:34.280 I think they grossly underestimated the number of patent applications 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:36.880 they were going to receive. People got their invention on. Yeah, 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:42.360 the first patent um that Samuel Hopkins received, Um Jefferson examined, 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:45.480 he signed it, he gave it to the Secretary of War, 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:48.960 who signed it, who then pass it under the Attorney 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:52.040 General who signed it. And then President George Washington signed it. 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:55.720 So that wasn't a sustainable process. And then chuck, there's 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.360 like tons of millions of patents. I think like five 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:01.400 point seven million patent tons of millions in them. Yeah, 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:05.400 five point seven is a ton um. Anyway, there was 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:08.120 this notable one that I think is kind of hilarious. 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:13.640 Mark Twain, beloved American humorist. He invented. Who didn't like 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.880 Mark Twain, Man, there's a lot of twin haters. Well, 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:23.440 he invented the elastic brass strap. Yeah, uh, I wonder 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:26.760 why he he invented and improve it an adjustable and 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:29.960 detachable straps for garments, which he suggested could use for 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:33.240 pantaloons or vests or other garments. But basically, if you 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:36.079 look at it, you're like, that's a brass strap. Yeah. 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.400 I bet that the old soft garter benefited from that idea, 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:43.480 I would guess so. And then one other things I wondered. Yeah, 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:49.000 he also held two other patents, one for um a game. Hey, 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:53.720 he invented a game to help players remember important historical dates. Okay, 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:55.679 I don't think he ever saw a dime on that one, 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:59.560 I'm sure. And then a self pasting scrap book, which 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:03.880 wouldn't be come huge until the nineties. Yeah. Self pasting 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:10.360 means I don't know, it's already sticky. Yeah, like the 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:13.600 photo albums you peel back the plastic and that that 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:18.439 sheet underneath is sticky uses static electricity. No, it's actually 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.840 sticky too, didn't it. I think it's static. It's sticky. 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:24.360 I think it's sticky. I haven't looked at a photo 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:26.440 of a minute. What, well, I have to I have 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:30.040 to go to uh, I don't know, the Hallmark store 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:31.920 and check on out soon. Let's do it. Well, we 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:35.120 were going anyway, so so I know the new Christmas 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:40.440 tournaments are uh so Chuck, let's talk patents, man. Yeah, 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:42.800 this I had this idea because I'm a big fan 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:46.840 of Shark Tank, the TV show, and there's a lot 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.120 of patent talk, and uh, I was watching it the 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:51.120 other day and they says, well, we have the utility patent, 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.000 but not the design patent. And I was like, I 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.000 gotta look this stuff up and see what all that means. 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.320 And um, well, we'll get to that in a second, 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.480 but let's start it out and we'll probably do shows 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:06.640 on maybe copyright and trademark at some point. Maybe they're 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:10.000 still they're worth mentioning here though. Yeah. Copyright, those are 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:15.040 all forms of intellectual protecting your intellectual property, and copyright 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:19.240 is the easiest and most broad and wide reaching and 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:23.320 longest lasting form because you can just write something and 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:27.040 it's yours automatically in the United States at least. Yeah, 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:32.040 and it lasts um for your lifetime plus seventy years. 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:36.000 Not bad, no, um, and literally once you, like Chuck, 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:40.440 if you write a short little story, you can write. 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.560 When you finish, you can write see put a circle 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:48.000 around it, Chuck Bryant, two thousand fourteen, and you have 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:52.440 your official copyright. That's right, Like that's it. Legally, you're 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:56.320 you're done just because you created a work of authorship. 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:59.559 And that's pretty great if you're a company and you've 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.319 done have a copyright as a company at last um 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:07.120 up to a hundred and twenty years, depending on whether 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:11.800 they publish it or not. Um. Yes, but that's uh. 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:13.760 Eventually it does run out, and then it can be 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.240 shared and other people can make money off of it, 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:20.920 like for example, old um HP Lovecraft stories. Like you 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:22.960 or I could take a bunch of love Craft stories 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.560 um and say we wrote them, type them, put them together, 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:30.560 and publish them and sell those books. Really like a 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:32.439 collection that you don't have to get any kind of 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.840 permission for that. Nope, it's in the public domain at 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:37.960 that pointlong to the world. That's right. Well, we read 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:40.680 every Halloween. We have to read something from the public domain, 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:44.480 I know, because it's really expensive to do otherwise it is. 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.240 Trademarks are a little bit different. They're a lot more 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:52.480 narrow and what they protect, and they protect designs and 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:58.080 phrases that businesses use or maybe trade secrets like a 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:01.960 formula for a soda are different. That's its own thing. Yeah, 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:04.760 but that's still a trademark. Is it. Yeah, I thought 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.800 it was separate from a trademark. M. I don't think so. 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.160 So with a trade says it's a trademark trade secret. Well, 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.439 with a trade secret, um, it's actually. Uh, it can 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:17.000 be beneficial to keep something under wraps as a trade 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.680 secret because if you have something that you patent, you're 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:24.120 protected for twenty years in the United States, your patent 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:27.120 is but part of the patent processes we'll talk about 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:30.680 is to publish it. You make it every detail of 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.160 it public. So then after twenty years, when your patent 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.440 runs out, anybody can go and look at your patent 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.160 and recreate it and not give you a cent for it. 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:41.720 If it's a trade secret, as long as no one 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:45.480 discovers the the say secret formula for Coke by accident 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:48.600 or by being this American Life and rooting it out 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:52.720 right and uh and then yes, so like Coke could 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:56.760 sue This American Life for damages. But once it's out 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:59.960 in the public, like, that's no longer a trade seek 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:03.559 and other people can use it legally. Uh. The other 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:05.120 way you can do it is to take coke and 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:07.920 reverse engineer it and come up with the formula successfully. 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:12.840 That way that's not protected by trade secrets. But then, uh, 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:14.880 I think Coke diffused that well though they were kind 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:18.720 of like great, good luck. Yeah, supposedly they keep it 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:22.800 in a bank in a bank vault here in Atlanta, Yeah, 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.040 like you. Um. And then the last one is a 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:29.240 service mark, which is like a trademark for a company 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:32.720 that provides services rather than products. So like if you're 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:38.040 a plumber, you might have sm next to your your logo. 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:44.160 Those are the different types of intellectual property protection protections 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.400 afforded in the United States, Chuck. But the final one, 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.040 and the one we're discussing in that length is the patent, 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:52.719 and that is a copyright for an invention, and the 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:56.120 US patent law, uh defines that as quote any new 0:13:56.200 --> 0:14:00.120 and useful process, machine manufacturer, or composition of matter, or 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:05.240 any new idea and useful improvement thereof end quote. And 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.360 that is uh, well, we'll get into all that, but 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:13.640 the wording there is sufficiently vague and specific, because when 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:15.920 you're talking about inventions, it's got to be a little 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:18.559 bit vague, Yeah, because you don't have it all worked out. 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.960 Maybe no, because with the copyright, for example, what you 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:27.320 wrote down is is protected, right, the sentence structure, the 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:30.800 paragraphs who use the wording you used. That's protected, the 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:34.160 thoughts that it's getting across about the little puppy who 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:37.920 got lost and came back home and everything ended really well, 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.440 like you, you're the idea of a puppy getting lost 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:45.320 can't be copyrighted with a patent. It's the reverse, like 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:49.720 the actual invention, like the platform shoe with the goldfish 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:54.040 tank and the heel that you invented, right the you 0:14:54.160 --> 0:15:01.000 can't defend that actual tangible shoe, but the idea, the 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.400 design of that shoe, that's what a patent protects. Yeah, 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.560 and you can't steal It gets a little tricky with 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:10.560 things like writing or like movie ideas. You can't steal 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:15.000 someone's idea. Um, Like, there could be two movies about 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.680 lost puppies. But if you could somehow prove that you 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:21.200 met someone in a meeting and pitched him this idea 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:23.600 for the lost puppy, and then six months later they 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:25.440 came out with a script for a lost puppy, you 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:28.440 might have a case that they I don't know, man um, 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:30.840 it happens all the time. Okay, but think about deep 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.880 impact and armageddon. Let's go back to that. Well, well, 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:35.480 now I know that's what I'm saying. You can have 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:39.880 two movies. There their lawsuits every day filed on Hollywood 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:45.440 over stolen intellectual ideas. But um, whether or not successful 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:46.920 is whether or not you can make your case. You know, 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.120 it depends upon each one. That's a good point. So 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:52.520 the first thing if you want to pattent an invention 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.080 is that you have to uh well, it has to 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:58.600 be sufficiently novel, is what they say. So it can't 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:01.360 be uh uh. I mean it can be similar to 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:04.080 other things, but it has to be different enough to 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:08.440 something that's already patented or been published in a publication 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.720 to grant the patent. Yeah, because if this that's a 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:15.040 really key point. If if the even if you invented 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.440 something right, Um, and let's say you wrote about your 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:20.920 platform shoe with the goldfish tank in the heel, right, 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.200 if you wrote about it and don't file a patent 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:29.680 application if it was published, yes, within a year, Um, 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:33.760 you you can't file a patent after that. Yeah, that's 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:35.600 why the first thing you need to do is file 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:39.520 the patent. Like, no one invents something and writes all 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:41.800 about it in the Washington Post for a year and 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.520 it's just maybe I should patent it so that that's 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.120 your first step. And so that's and that's that's what 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.080 makes a novel. It's new. It's a different idea. And 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:53.160 like you said, you can be taking different things that 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:55.480 already exist but putting them together in a new way 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:59.120 that people hadn't thought of or that wasn't what's called 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:02.520 um obvious. So the the invention also has to be 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:06.120 non obvious. Yeah, and that's what most inventions these days 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:10.320 are our improvements on things that already exists. Like there 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:12.600 are new inventions, but a lot of it. Like the 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.439 great example they use in nineteen seventy seven when Jerome 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:20.160 Lemelson invented or got patented the idea of the cam quarter. 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:22.600 It was so absurd at the time. People were like, 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:25.920 you hit recorded video and sound at the same time. 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:29.560 Just that's denied. That's just silly, get out of here. 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:31.720 And he said, actually, you know, that's kind of a 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.480 good idea, and it's super easy to do because all 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:36.560 I have to do is tape the tape recorder to 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:41.000 this camera, which is probably what he did. And uh, 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:43.320 he was able to get the cam quarter patented, of course. 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:45.320 And now if you go to the patent office and 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:49.280 do some research. There probably thousands of patents that have 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:53.200 to do with the cam quarter. Each individual little piece 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:57.280 that someone innovates, they can patent, like night vision on 0:17:57.320 --> 0:17:59.879 it or a light attached to it, right exactly. But 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.560 you couldn't say, I'm gonna patent a cam quord this 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:07.960 other guy's cam quorder idea, but it'll be green because 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:11.440 that's an obvious change. Or this article gives the example 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:14.560 of like a toaster, Like you couldn't patent a toaster 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:18.280 that has an extra two slots for bread because anybody 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:21.840 could think of that exactly. It's that's obvious, that's non obvious, 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:24.600 that's just a bigger toaster. And then there's also useful 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:28.160 um useful as kind of the last of the triumvirate 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:33.280 for what makes a patentable item or invention, and like 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:36.040 it has to be something that works. So like the 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:39.200 example given in this article is like you couldn't patent 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:43.639 random configuration of gears because it doesn't do anything, it 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:48.080 doesn't work, it's not useful. But if those gears transported, uh, 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:50.600 you know, it's a new way of transporting something from 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:53.760 one place to another more efficiently. Maybe than you could patentable, 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:58.800 patentable um. And then in the same vein, something that 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.720 apparently the patent office interprets something that can be used 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:08.120 strictly for immoral purposes, that they consider that non useful 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:10.520 because at the end of the day, the patent office 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.399 is supposed to be doing this for the benefit of society. 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:17.520 So I guess they feel that they also can morally 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:19.800 interpret things as well. Yeah, what is that? Like, you 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:22.720 can't patent like a whiskey still like in your bedroom. 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:24.800 I don't know, I know, I wouldn't. I think it'd 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:28.159 be more harmful than that, Like like maybe, um, a 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.600 doomsday laser that only works on children who haven't done 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:35.480 anything to anybody, But the doomsday laser for bad kids 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:40.679 is great. You see my point? Patentable That was a 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:44.800 great example if you ask me. And then similarly, your 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:51.200 device has to be able to be to not just work. 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:53.879 Like yes, you could say, well, this random configuration of 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:56.240 gears will work. Why can't I patent it because it's 0:19:56.240 --> 0:19:59.920 not useful. In the same vein, you can't patent uh, 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:03.119 like a time machine. Again, the example they give this 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:06.879 this article is lousy with great examples. Yeah, like we 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.240 We tried, actually to get our way Back Machine patented, 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:11.800 and they said, guys, that's real cute. They're like, that's 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:14.600 basically just sound design. Thanks for wasting your time. We 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:18.040 could probably trademark it, though, although I'm sure the good 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:21.960 people who made Rocky and bowl Winkle would sewer. Yeah, 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:26.520 r see us, Yeah, see ourselves. The patent in the 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:29.240 United States. And I apologize that this is not patents 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:31.399 all around the world, but we don't have like eighty 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:35.840 hours because we search each country. Again, any any modern 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:41.040 developed country typically has a patent system. Yeah, and good advice. 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:44.760 If you have something that you think could be used internationally, 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:47.199 you need to get patents in all the countries you 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:51.159 fear might rip it off, right, because you're your patent 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:53.679 that you've received in the United States protects you in 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:57.800 the United States, not Canada, not Japan, not Mexico, not China, 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.919 not anywhere for twenty years, right these days, that's all 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:05.320 long your patent will last. That's right, Chuck. Um. It 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:07.879 used to be seventeen and I can't remember when they 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:10.040 changed it, but it wasn't too terribly long ago, within 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:13.040 the last couple of decades, I think. Yeah, And actually, um, well, 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:14.920 we'll go over the types of the patent real quick too, 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:18.960 because one of those, the design patent is only for 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:23.359 fourteen years unless that's changed design patent. You'll hear that 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:26.359 on Shark Tank all the time. Uh. That is something 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:29.879 like if you designed a new chair, like an ikea chair, 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:33.240 that would be design patented. You can't go and rip 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:36.480 off that chair. Oh, but the the idea of a 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:40.399 chair itself isn't patentable. It's just this configuration of the 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:43.960 chair concept, right. Or Steve Madden will design a shoe 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:47.239 and Steve Madden can put a design patent on that 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:49.440 shoe even though it's a shoe. You can even patent 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:52.280 the sole of a shoe if it's some innovative new 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:55.600 tread tread or for like a tire that channels water 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:59.360 away or something like that. Exactly. Um, I don't think 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:02.040 those are design patents though. I think that would be 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:07.120 a utility patent. But design patents are enforced for fourteen years. 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:11.359 Utility patent um that is, there are five categories there. 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:14.800 It can be a process, a machine, a manufacturer, a 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:19.679 composition of matter, or an improvement on an existing idea, 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:21.919 and it might fall into a certain category, like more 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:25.440 than one, but it'll only be patented for one of 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:30.600 those categories. But it's covered and that lasts for twenty years. 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:36.520 So basically you're like the coffee maker that also makes 0:22:36.520 --> 0:22:38.520 an egg and toast at the same time. That would 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:43.480 have gotten a utility pattern, right, uh yeah, does that exist? Yeah? Nice? 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:45.639 Emily said. The best egg she ever had was it 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:50.160 a cafe in Utah where they um cook them using 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:53.760 a like what she used to heat the milk like 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:57.480 that sprays out the steam. They were steam cooked. Weird. Yeah, 0:22:57.640 --> 0:23:00.440 like to make an espresso, they will put the egg 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:02.520 like as if you would make an espresso and cook 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:04.639 the eggs with that steam. I've never heard of that. 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:08.119 I've never heard that either. Um. And then there's the 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:12.840 super Weird Plant patent, and that is granted for any 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:18.000 a sexually or sexually reproducible plant or flour that is 0:23:18.080 --> 0:23:20.960 novel and not obvious. Yeah, that's that's kind of a 0:23:21.000 --> 0:23:23.800 big one because there was and in Australia it's this 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:25.480 is the way it is. But in the US it 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:26.840 was up in the air for a little bit that 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:31.680