Patent attorneys spend a lot of time explaining two deceptively simple concepts: novelty and obviousness. Both rise and fall on one thing: prior art. Most inventors assume prior art means a patent or some obscure technical paper written by someone surviving on cold brew and conference coffee.
That assumption is wrong.
Prior art is anything
As the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots meet again on football’s biggest stage, the rematch inevitably pulls everyone back to one moment. Different rosters. Different seasons. Same unresolved question. With a championship on the line, memories of the one-yard line come rushing back, not because the teams are the same, but because the
Thanksgiving is finally here, which means the turkey gets its annual moment in the spotlight. For 364 days a year, the turkey is just trying to fit in. It was forced to take on roles it never auditioned for. Turkey bacon. Turkey sausage. Turkey pastrami. Turkey pepperoni on pizza that never asked for it. All
Beginning May 13, 2025, the window between paying the issue fee and your patent officially issuing will become much shorter.
Until now, after paying the issue fee, applicants typically had a comfortable three weeks (sometimes longer) to file a continuation or divisional application. It was not an enormous amount of time, but it was usually
After weeks of hypothetical buzzer-beaters, patent face-offs, and a few well-placed Braveheart reference, Innovation Madness has crowned a champion.
And just like in the real NCAA tournament, the championship run was full of upsets, old-school dominance, and the thrill of seeing true innovation take center court. While Florida took home its third national title after
The NCAA tournament crowned a new champion Monday night—and what a finish it was.
The Florida Gators stormed back from a double-digit deficit to snatch victory from the Houston Cougars, who couldn’t even get off a final shot. The drama was only heightened by Houston’s buzzer-beating win over Duke in the previous round. There’s only
When we kicked off Innovation Madness: The Ultimate Basketball Patent Bracket, we asked one simple question: Which basketball invention truly changed the game?
Now, as the actual NCAA tournament has narrowed down to the last four teams, featuring all four No. 1 seeds for the first time since 2008 (and only the second time
We’re knee-deep in Hoops Havoc (because, yes, March Madness is trademarked), and according to ESPN, there are no perfect brackets entering into the round of sixteen. With my beloved UCLA Bruins making a heart-breaking second-round exit (we’ll get them next year, says the fan who’s been saying that since 1996), I suddenly found myself with
Halloween is a time for goblins, ghouls, and—if you’re an inventor—a whole lot of creative thinking! Among the cauldron of Halloween patents, one particularly clever design stands out: a patented method for decorating pumpkins (and, technically, other fruits…but we’re not holding our breath for Halloween coconuts). Meet U.S. Patent 6,855,224, an invention that makes