Intellectual Property Research

This lesson covers the kinds of inventions that can be patented. The first section discusses how the Constitution and the federal Patent Act (specifically Section 101) define and limit those categories of innovations, including the open issues in that on-going debate. The second section offers a variety of problems ranging from the straight-forward to the more complex, permitting confirmation of understanding and practice in application.

This lesson explores the concept of utility as a condition for patentability under 35 U.S.C. § 101, The lesson can serve either as an introduction to the topic or as a review after covering the material in class. Although the fundamental concepts in this lesson are not difficult, the optional essay explores a particularly challenging topic.

This lesson works through the details of patent law's novelty requirement as set out in Section 102(a) of the Patent Act. It also briefly covers Section 102(e) and inventorship. It does not deal with Section 102(b) statutory bars.

This lesson reviews some of the concepts needed to understand the patent law doctrine of "nonobviousness" (Section 103 of the Patent Act). Before completing this lesson students should be familiar with the doctrine of novelty under Section 102 of the Act.

Lists all of the available lessons related to patent law.