This course examines the history of private and public rights in scientific discoveries and applied engineering. It traces the development of worldwide patent systems and of entrepreneurial new technology companies based on patents. It reviews the classes of invention that are able to be protected under the patent laws of the U.S., including the procedures in protecting inventions in the Patent Office and the courts and the relatively new thrust with regard to methods of doing business. The course includes reviews of past and recent cases involving inventions and patents in:
- The chemical process industry and medical (pharmaceutical, biological, and genetic-engineering) fields;
- devices in the mechanical arts;
- electrical, computer, and software inventions; and also
- software protection afforded under copyright laws.
This course is based upon the following text which is required by the instructor for any participant:
Rines, Robert H. Create or Perish: The Case for Inventions and Patents. Boston, MA: Preliminary Edition, 1964.
Within this course, the text will be referred to as Create or Perish. Additional reading material, including references to recent court decisions, may be specified to supplement the text in areas that the instructors deem appropriate. Reading and comprehending the material is extremely important in the student’s performance in this class, and therefore the student is strongly encouraged to acquire and reach the point of personal understanding and synthesis for all material specified in this course.
Course Topic Overview
In the course this semester, we will be reshaping the curriculum for purposes of presenting the historical and modern cases for innovation in the United States.
The following topics will be discussed in this course:
- The origin and development of the American patent system
- The role of the patent office and the courts
- The patent law
- Patents in action (the history of the basic telephone patent)
- The rights, obligations, and problems of inventors (employee-employer relations)
- The modernization of patent systems
- Court modernization for aiding the patent system and the law, in general
Other Topics
- The elements of planning and organization to develop and launch a 21st Century company based on an inventive idea
- Perspectives on innovation from an investor and company founder
- Success stories from 6.931 students
- Success story from manufacturing – bottle technology
- New legal challenges in innovation/inventions/patents
- Suggested discussions: current cases on intellectual property
- Peterlin case (based on Inventors Protection Act of 1999)
Other topics – time permitting
- The role of American universities in encouraging innovation
- Gilbert patent – extending patent protection, with improvement of invention
- Review of patent material from 6.901, Inventions and Patents
