Chris_Whewell
Newbie

Posts: 20
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Re: Compositional Relationships and Patents
« Reply #5 on: Mar 10th, 2004, 8:12pm » |
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on Mar 9th, 2004, 6:12am, anup joshi wrote:An absolute newbie to patent legalese, and my apologies in advance. I have a question pertaining to compositional designs. If A is a concept or an artifact, and I develop an artifact B that is a superset of concept of A in the artifact would I be infringing A ? An example to further clarify : Let us say (hypothetically) I was the inventor of the car and wanted to patent it. The concept of revolute joints or bearings (analogous to concept A) was already patented. My invention (the car) fundamentally uses revolute joints, but the function of the whole (car) is what my concept (concept B) is about as opposed to just the revolute joint or bearing which are utilized in transmitting motion from the drive shaft to the wheel. Further Let us also say the conceptual equations of the joint are what I use but use a different material. Would I the (hypothetical) inventor of the car be stepping on patent A then? Do I have to in any way be concerned about A ? If yes in what way ? does anyone understand this? Thanks, |
| Anup, a quick question: Is your father a professor in Mumbai ? I think I may have done some work for him relative to a variable timing camshaft engine combination a couple years ago..... ? To answer your question, it is possible to invent something which is within the broader claim of an existing patnet. IN such a case, the person with the narrower invention cannot practice the inveniton without license from the owner of the broad patent. HOwever, the owner of the broad patent cannot practice the narrower invention without license from the owner of the narrower patent. I hope this helps. Chris
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