WEBVTT - How Patents Work 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:10.920 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know Frondhouse stuff Works dot Com. Hey, 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:14.760 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:18.520 Chuck Bryant, and this is Stuff you should Know. There's 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:27.360 Jerry too. By the way, Jerry, he's ready for January. Me. Uh, yeah, 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:31.480 you're ready for a new year. I'm ready for this 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:35.280 year to be done. Yeah. I think it's been kind 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.680 of cool year. No, it's been fun. I'm just I'm tired. 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:43.120 I feel i'd be much more rested in It's October. 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.479 You know, we've got a little ways to go. I 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:47.680 know this is my favorite month too. I'm just gonna 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:53.240 drag you, Hippy. You're gonna start saying far out next 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:57.360 starting to it is far out, so Chuck. Yes, I'm 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:00.840 very curious. Do you have any patents to your name? Now? Man, 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:04.200 I'm not. I don't have an inventive mind. I don't either. 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.800 My brother does, and he has had some good ideas 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:11.000 that have later been made into inventions. Why didn't he 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:14.760 patent them? I don't know. Man. Every every time I 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:16.399 see a new one, I sent it to h and say, hey, 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:19.840 I remember when he had this idea twelve years ago. Scott. Yeah, 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:22.360 what are you doing? I know, Well he's got a 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:24.840 bunch of pinball tables, so he's doing all right. He 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:28.640 doesn't own the patent on them though, Um no, but 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:32.720 he could, you know why, because it's America, that's right. 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.759 So it turns out, chuck um and doing a little 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:41.040 bit of research, that there's mention of patents and patent 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:45.400 protection in the Constitution, dude, not even the Bill of Rights. 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.200 Freedom of speech isn't even mentioned in the constitutions and 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:51.560 the Bill of Rights, but patent protection is in the Constitution, 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.160 Article one, Section eight, clause eight, which is known as 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:58.360 the Intellectual Property Clause, and it says, quote, Congress shall 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.880 have the power ellips to promote the progress of science 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:05.280 and useful arts by securing, for limited times to authors 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:09.119 and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries. 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.359 And since this is the late eighteenth century, a lot 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.440 of that stuff was just like randomly capitalized, like a 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:18.280 sixth grader wrote it or something right, And my apologies 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:20.040 to all of you six grade listeners out there who 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:24.400 know your capitalization like we love proper now. So um, 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:28.240 it's in the Constitution. Like if you invent something that's 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.520 new and novel and cool. We think you should have 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:36.280 some sort of government sanctioned monopoly over that, at least 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:39.880 for a limited amount of time. You know why, because 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:44.000 very early on the United States said we want to 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:52.280 encourage uh inventiveness and forward thinking, an entrepreneurship and great ideas. 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:55.120 They were on board pretty early. Even though it's a 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.320 sort of a mess these days, which we'll talk about 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.400 against the end, we will. Yeah, but yeah, the whole point, 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.120 the whole purpose of a patent system and apparently every 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.079 it's one of the hallmarks of the m of the 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:13.360 modern society, I guess, is to have a patent office. 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:21.760 It says we value innovation, we value technological progress, artistic progress, um, 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:26.239 and we're going to show a commitment to that by 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:30.960 by basically saying you you have again. I guess the 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:32.640 best way to put it is a monopoly on your 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.600 invention for a limited amount of time. And it harkens 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:40.920 back um. Apparently the first patent was issued in fourteen 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:45.160 nine in jolly old England by King Henry the sixth, 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:48.120 who gave it to a guy who didn't even have 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:53.480 a last name. Well, yeah, of Utnam is not a 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:57.000 last name, that's where you're from. It sounds like I'm 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.640 Josh of Toledo. I'm just saying this midi evil. It's 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:04.680 not the sixteenth century. Uh No, it's not so. U 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:09.040 John of Unam got a patent from King Henry the 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:13.440 sixth for stained glass manufacturing. Yeah, back then patents in 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:15.720 England were it was a little bit different. It was 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:19.279 more like, Hey, we want to protect the crown and 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:23.000 our country and our good friends and our good good 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:26.000 friends of the Crown, and um make sure that if 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.760 they have an idea that we can go after anyone 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:31.080 else in any other country, even if it's something like 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:34.840 stained glass that's already clearly being done in places like Italy. Right. 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.000 It was basically like, you know, officially, are the only 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.160 person who can make stained glass. It was a bit 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.760 of a sham. Yeah, they would. They would give out 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:46.840 patents not just on an item or an idea or 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:50.400 an invention, but like a whole industry. So like this, 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.120 somebody held the patent on the publishing industry for a 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.760 while and apparently got out of hand because it was 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:58.480 just royal prerogative left and right. And yeah, it didn't 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:02.920 lasted that long though. The four they started to pass 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:08.000 statutes and laws to try and curb that abuse of power. Um, 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:10.120 anyway they could and make it a little more like 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.600 the patent system that we know and support today. Yeah. 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.680 They were like, the Crown can't give out patents unless 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.080 it's for a new invention. Yeah. So yeah, that that 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:21.840 is very similar to what we have today. UM. So 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.920 right off the fat, America's like new country. We're setting 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:29.039 up a patent office. Um. And the first person to 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:32.720 get a patent in the United States was one Samuel Hopkins. 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:41.000 Hopkins is the last name, not Samuel of Pittsburgh, Samuel Hopkins. Yeah, 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:45.200 he got a patent for, UM an improvement in making 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.320 in the making of potash? Is that potash or potash? 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:50.440 I don't know. I said it eight different ways in 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:56.240 my head earlier. Well one of those, right, yes. Um. 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:58.920 And so he held the first patent. Actually, the person 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:02.040 that reviewed his patent was a man named Thomas Jefferson. Yeah. 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.800 He was big on innovation, as was Lincoln. And Lincoln 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:07.760 is the only president to actually hold a patent. Um. 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:09.560 He got a boat stuck one time in the river 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:12.599 and said, hey, that'd be neat if we could find 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:15.479 a way to not get boats stuck, right, So he 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.920 devised a system to unstick boats when they were stuck 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:22.480 on a sandbar for the river was too shallow or something. Yeah, 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.279 by inflating some booie's that would just basically let you 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:27.240 float over. And they were like, President Lincoln, that's a 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:29.520 great idea. Here's your patents. Well he was a congressman 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:31.240 at the time, but yeah, he's the only president to 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:35.200 hold a patent. Uh. And then Jefferson handled the application 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:38.520 process for a while before passing it off to um, 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:40.800 you know, other cabinet members. And then eventually they're like, 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:42.920 you know what, we this is all out of hand. 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:45.400 We need to establish our own patent office. And they 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:47.279 did so a E ten o two. Yeah. I think 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:51.200 they grossly underestimated the number of patent applications they were 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:53.599 going to receive. People got their invention on. Yeah, the 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:58.960 first patent um that Samuel Hopkins received, UM Jefferson examined, 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:02.080 he saw it, he gave it to the Secretary of War, 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.880 who signed it, who then passed under the Attorney General 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:08.640 who signed it, and then President George Washington signed it. 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:12.320 So that wasn't a sustainable process. And then Chuck there's 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:14.960 like tons of millions of patents. I think like five 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.600 point seven million patents, tons of millions. Yeah, five point 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:22.600 seven A a ton um. Anyway, there was this notable 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.559 one that I think is kind of hilarious. Mark Twain, 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:31.280 beloved American humorist he invented. Who didn't like Mark Twain, Man, 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:34.360 there's a lot of twin haters. Well, he invented the 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:41.880 elastic brass strap. Yeah. Uh, I wonder why he invented 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:45.160 and improve it an adjustable and detachable straps for garments, 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:47.840 which he suggested to be use for pantaloons or vests 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.360 or other garments. But basically, if you look at it, 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:53.680 you're like, that's a brass strap. Yeah. I bet that 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.960 the old stot garter benefited from that idea. I would 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:00.360 guess so. And then one other things I wondered. He 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.800 also held two other patents, one for um Witty Banter, 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:08.080 a game he invented a game to help players remember 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.480 important historical dates. Okay, I don't think he ever saw 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:13.920 a dime on that one, I'm sure. And then a 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:18.400 self pasting scrapbook, which wouldn't become huge until the nineties. 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:26.360 Self pasting means I don't know, it's already sticky. Yeah, 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.720 like the photo albums, you peel back the plastic and 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:34.480 that that sheet underneath is sticky uses static electricity. No, 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.080 it's actually sticky too, wouldn't it. I think it's static. 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:40.560 This is sticky. I think it's sticky. I haven't looked 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:42.360 at a photo of a minute while. Well, I have 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.840 to have to go to uh, I don't know, the 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.400 Hallmark store and check on out soon. Let's do it. Well, 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:51.720 we were going anyway, so I know the new Christmas 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:57.400 tournaments are. Uh so, Chuck, let's talk patents, man. Yeah, this. 0:08:57.600 --> 0:08:59.520 I had this idea because I'm a big fan of 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:03.560 Shark Town, the TV show, and there's a lot of 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:05.880 patent talk, and uh I was watching it the other 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:07.720 day and they says, well, we have the utility patent, 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.600 but not the design patent. And I was like, I 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:12.600 gotta look this stuff up and see what all that means. 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.000 And um, well, we'll get to that in a second. 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:19.280 But let's start out and we'll probably do shows on 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:23.520 maybe copyright and trademark at some point. Maybe they're still 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.800 they're worth mentioning here though. Yeah, copyright, those are all 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:31.840 forms of intellectual protecting your intellectual property and copyright is 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:36.440 the easiest and most broad and wide reaching and longest 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:40.200 lasting form because you can just write something and it's 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:44.560 yours automatically in the United States. Yeah, and it lasts 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:50.120 um for your lifetime plus seventy years. Not bad, no, um. 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:54.160 And literally once you, like Chuck, if you write a 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:57.920 short little story, you can write. When you finish, you 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:02.120 can write see put a s fill around it, Chuck Bryant, 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:07.280 two thousand fourteen. And you have your official copyright. That's right, Like, 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:11.360 that's it legally. You you're done just because you created 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:15.240 a work of authorship. And that's pretty great. If you're 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:18.200 a company and you've done, have a copyright as a 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:21.400 company at last um up to a hundred and twenty years, 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:26.720 depending on whether they publish it or not. Um. Yes, 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.000 but that's uh. Eventually it does run out and then 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:32.240 it can be shared and other people can make money 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:36.920 off of it, like for example, old um HP Lovecraft stories. 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:38.800 Like you or I could take a bunch of love 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:41.840 Craft stories. UM, let's say we wrote them, type them, 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:45.280 put them together, and publish them and sell those books. 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:48.679 Really like a collection that you don't have to get 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:50.520 any kind of permission for that. Nope, it's in the 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:54.160 public domain at that point, belong to the world. That's right. Well, 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:56.480 we read every Halloween. We have to read something from 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:59.800 the public domain, I know, because it's really expensive to 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:03.520 do weatherwise, it is. Trademarks are a little bit different. 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:07.440 They're a lot more narrow and what they protect, and 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:12.560 they protect designs and phrases that businesses use, or maybe 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:17.079 trade secrets like a formula for a soda. Those are different. 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.520 That's its own thing. Yeah, but that's still a trademark, 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.720 is it. Yeah. I thought it was separate from a trademark. 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:25.360 M M. I don't think so. So with a trade 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:29.480 says it's a trademark trade secret. Well with the trade secret, um, 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:32.480 it's actually uh, it can be beneficial to keep something 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.080 under wraps as a trade secret because if you have 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:38.839 something that you patent, you're protected for twenty years in 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.160 the United States, your patent is but part of the 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.320 patent processes we'll talk about is to publish it. You 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.680 make it every detail of it public. So then after 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.080 twenty years, when your patent runs out, anybody can go 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:53.720 and look at your patent and recreate it and not 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.000 give you a cent for it if it's a trade secret, 0:11:56.480 --> 0:12:00.280 as long as no one discovers the the says secret 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.040 formula for Coke by accident or by being this American 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.960 Life and rooting it out right, and uh and then yes, 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:11.240 so like Coke could sue This American Life for damages. 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:15.240 But once it's out in the public, like, it's no 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:19.439 longer a trade secret and other people can use it legally. Uh. 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:21.000 The the other way you can do it is to 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:23.360 take Coke and reverse engineer it and come up with 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:27.720 the formula successfully that way that's not protected by trade secrets. 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:31.000 But then, uh, I think Coke diffused that well though 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:34.800 they were kind of like great, good luck. Yeah, supposedly 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:37.640 they keep it in a bank in a bank vault 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:41.840 here in Atlanta. Yeah, like you. Um. And then the 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:43.920 last one is a service mark, which is like a 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:47.960 trademark for a company that provides services rather than products. 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:52.000 So like if you're a plumber, you might have sm 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:57.640 next to your your logo. Those are the different types 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:02.760 of intellectual property protection protections afforded in the United States, Chuck. 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:05.840 But the final one, and the one we're discussing that length, 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:08.560 is the patent, and that is a copyright for an invention, 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:11.880 and the US patent law uh defines that is, quote 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:16.679 any new and useful process, machine manufacturer, or composition of matter, 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:21.240 or any new idea and useful improvement thereof and quote 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:24.800 and that is Uh. Well, we'll get into all that. 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:29.760 But the wording there is sufficiently vague and specific, because 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:32.280 when you're talking about inventions, it's got to be a 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:34.760 little bit vague. Yeah, because you don't have it all 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:37.680 worked out. Maybe no, because with the copyright, for example, 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:43.720 what you wrote down is is protected, right, the sentence structure, 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:47.000 the paragraphs you use, the wording you used, that's protected. 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:50.560 The thoughts that it's getting across about the little puppy 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:54.000 who got lost and came back home and everything ended 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.400 really well, like you, you're the idea of a puppy 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:01.480 getting lost can't be copyrighted with a patent. It's the reverse, 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:05.760 like the actual invention, like the platform shoe with the 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:10.040 goldfish tank and the heel that you invented, right, the 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:16.800 you can't defend that actual tangible shoe, but the idea, 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:21.040 the design of that shoe, that's what a patent protects. Yeah, 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:24.120 and you can't steal it. Gets a little tricky with 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.160 things like writing or like movie ideas. You can't steal 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:31.600 someone's idea. Um, like, there could be two movies about 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:35.280 lost puppies. But if you could somehow prove that you 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:37.800 met someone in a meeting and pitched him this idea 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.200 for the Lost Puppy, and then six months later they 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:42.280 came out with a script for Lost Puppy, you might 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:46.600 have a case that they I don't know, man Um, Okay, 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.280 but think about Deep Impact and Armageddon. Let's go back 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:51.640 to that. Well, well, now I know that's what I'm saying. 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:55.520 You can have two movies. There their lawsuits every day 0:14:55.600 --> 0:15:01.280 filed on Hollywood over stolen intellectual ideas. But um, whether 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:02.840 or not successful is whether or not you can make 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:05.400 your case. You know, it depends upon each one. That's 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.200 a good point. So the first thing if you want 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:11.360 to patent an invention is that you have to uh well, 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:13.960 it has to be sufficiently novel, is what they say. 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.520 So it can't be uh, I mean, it can be 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:19.680 similar to other things, but it has to be different 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:24.280 enough to something that's already patented or been published in 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:27.800 a publication to grant the patent. Yeah, because if this 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:30.880 that's a really key point if if the even if 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.680 you invented something right, Um, and let's say you wrote 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:37.600 about your platform few with the goldfish tank in the heel, right, 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.800 if you wrote about it and don't file a patent 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:46.280 application if it was published, yes, within a year, Um, 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.360 you you can't file a patent after that. Yeah, that's 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:52.200 why the first thing you need to do is file 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:56.120 the patent. Like no one invents something and writes all 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.360 about it in the Washington Post for a year and 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:01.120 it's just maybe I should patent this. So that's that's 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:03.720 your first step. And so that's and that's that's what 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:06.680 makes a novel. It's new. It's a different idea. And 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.760 like you said, you can be taking different things that 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.080 already exist but putting them together in a new way 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:15.720 that people hadn't thought of or that wasn't what's called 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.120 um obvious. So the the invention also has to be 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.720 non obvious. Yeah, and that's what most inventions these days 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:26.920 are our improvements on things that already exists. Like there 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.200 are new inventions, but a lot of it Like the 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.040 great example they use in nineteen seventy seven when Jerome 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:36.880 Lemelson invented or got patented the idea of the cam qorder. 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:39.160 It was so absurd at the time. People were like, 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:42.520 you hit recorded video and sound at the same time. 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:46.160 Just that's denied. That's just silly. Get out of here. 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:48.480 And he said, actually, now that's kind of a good 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.240 idea and it's super easy to do because I'll have 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:53.720 to do is tape the tape recorder to this camera, 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:58.000 which is probably what he did. And uh, he was 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:00.280 able to get the cam chord patented. Of course, Now 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:02.640 if you go to the patent office and do some research, 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:06.320 there probably thousands of patents that have to do with 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:10.879 the cam quorter. Each individual little piece that someone innovates, 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:14.480 they can patent, like night vision on it or a 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.680 light attached to it, right exactly. But you couldn't say, 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:21.000 I'm gonna patent a cam quorder this other guy's cam 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:26.160 quorder idea, but it'll be green because it's an obvious change. 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:28.880 Or this article gives the example of like a toaster, 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:32.399 Like you couldn't patent a toaster that has an extra 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:36.240 two slots for bread because anybody could think of that, exactly. 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:39.399 It's that's obvious, that's no obvious. It's just a bigger toaster. 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:43.000 And then there's also useful um useful as kind of 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:46.960 the last of the triumvirate for what makes a patentable 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:50.919 item or invention, and like it has to be something 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:54.200 that works. So like the example given in this article 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:58.760 is like, you couldn't patent random configuration of gears because 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.880 it doesn't do anything, It doesn't work, it's not useful. 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:05.600 But if those gears transported, uh, you know, it's a 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:08.040 new way of transporting something from one place to another 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:11.679 more efficiently maybe than you could patentable patentable um. And 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:16.879 then in the same vein something that apparently the patent 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:22.119 office interprets something that can be used strictly for immoral purposes, 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:25.879 that they consider that non useful because at the end 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:27.840 of the day, the patent office is supposed to be 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:31.240 doing this for the benefit of society, so I guess 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:35.720 they feel that they also can morally interpret things as well. Yeah, 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:37.560 what is that? Like, you can't patent like a whiskey 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:40.360 still like in your bedroom? No, I no, no, I don't. 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:42.480 I wouldn't. I think it'd be more harmful than that. 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:46.560 Like like maybe um, a doomsday laser that only works 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:50.399 on children who haven't done anything to anybody. But the 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:55.720 doomsday laser for bad kids is great. You see my 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:58.960 point patentable, That was a great example if you asked me. 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:03.960 And then similarly, your device has to be able to 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:09.160 be to not just work. Like, yes, you could say, well, 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:11.639 this random configuration of gears will work. Why can't I 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:14.199 patent it? It's because it's not useful in the In 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:18.399 the same vein, you can't patent like a time machine. Again, 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.320 the example they give this this article is lousy with 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:24.520 great examples. Yeah, like we we tried actually to get 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:27.320 our way back machine patented and they said, guys, that's 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:30.080 real cute. They're like, that's basically just sound design. Thanks 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.840 for wasting your time. We could probably trademark it though, 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:36.440 although I'm sure the good people who made Rocky and 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:42.879 bowl Winkle would sewer. Yeah. Yeah, so ourselves the patent 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.280 in the United States, and I apologize that this is 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:47.280 not patents all around the world, but we don't have 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:51.000 like eighty hours because we search each country. Again, any 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:56.400 any modern developed country typically has a patent system. Yeah, 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.440 and good advice. If you have something that you think 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.840 could be used internationally, you need to get patents in 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:06.520 all the countries you fear might rip it off, right, 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:09.000 because you're your patent that you've received in the United 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:12.959 States protects you in the United States, not Canada, not Japan, 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:17.080 not Mexico, not China, not anywhere for twenty years, right 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:21.480 these days, that's a long your patent will last. That's right, Chuck. 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:24.200 Um it used to be seventeen and I can't remember 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:26.480 when they changed it, but it wasn't too terribly long ago, 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:29.640 within the last couple of decades, I think. Yeah. And actually, um, well, 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:31.520 we'll go over the types of the patent real quick too, 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:35.560 because one of those, the design patent, is only for 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:39.960 fourteen years unless that's changed. Design patent. You'll hear that 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:42.960 on shark Tank all the time. Uh. That is something 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:46.120 like if you designed a new chair like an ikea 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:49.560 chair that would be design patented. You can't go and 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:53.000 rip off that chair. Oh, but the the idea of 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:56.639 a chair itself isn't patentable. It's just this configuration of 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:00.080 the chair concept, right. Or Steve Madden will just in 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:03.479 a shoe and Steve Madden can put a design patent 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:05.520 on that shoe even though it's a shoe. You can 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:07.800 even patent the sole of a shoe, if it's some 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:11.159 innovative new tread tread or for like a tire or 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:15.240 that channels water away or something like that exactly. Um, 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:18.240 I don't think those are designed patents though. I think 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:21.760 that would be a utility patent, but design patents are 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:26.760 enforced for fourteen years. Utility patent um that is, there 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:29.600 are five categories there. It can be a process, a machine, 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:33.960 a manufacturer, a composition of matter, or an improvement on 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:37.639 an existing idea and it might fall into a certain 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:40.600 category like more than one, but it'll only be patented 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:45.679 for one of those categories, but it's covered and that 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:52.040 lasts for twenty years. So basically you're like the coffee 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:54.280 maker that also makes an egg and toast at the 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:56.600 same time. That would have gotten a utility pattern right, 0:21:57.359 --> 0:22:01.200 uh yeah, does that exist? Yeah? Emily said. The best 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:03.280 eggs she ever had was it a cafe in Utah 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:08.399 where they um cook them using a like what you 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:11.560 used to heat the milk, like that sprays out the steam. 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:15.240 They were steam cooked. Weird. Yeah, Like to make an espresso, 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:17.800 they will put the raw egg like as if you 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:20.119 would make an espresso and cook the eggs with that steam. 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:23.240 I've never heard of that. I've never heard that either. Um. 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:28.320 And then there's the super Weird Plant patent, and that 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:32.719 is granted for any a sexually or sexually reproducible plant 0:22:33.280 --> 0:22:36.960 or flour that is novel and non obvious. Yeah, that's 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:38.879 that's kind of a big one because there was and 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:41.320 in Australia it's this is the way it is. But 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:42.800 in the US it was up in the air for 0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:45.919 a little bit that people were worried that like naturally 0:22:45.920 --> 0:22:51.440 occurring genetic sequences could be patented. So we're basically some 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:54.880 company could be like, hey, we now own your jeans 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:58.280 and you can't do anything with them, even to save 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:01.920 your own life unless you pay us. In in Australia 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:05.640 they're one of their federal courts said yeah, like we're 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:09.919 totally down with that, which is crazy. In the United States, 0:23:09.920 --> 0:23:12.520 I think in two thousand and fourteen, the Supreme Courts 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:16.000 and yeah, we're not doing that. You you can patent 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:19.280 um if you can figure out how to manipulate jeans 0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:23.520 to make them do something that doesn't naturally occur, knock 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:26.600 yourself out totally patent that. Like for example, mont Satto's 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:31.760 seeds that um, that prevent themselves from receding or creating 0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:35.800 more seeds. Yeah, or some new strain of tree that's 0:23:35.800 --> 0:23:40.439