EGR 483/484: Multi-disciplinary Capstone Project: Patents

What is patentable? Inventions have to meet three main criteria:

1. Novel (unique and new, never made public in any way, anywhere, before the date of the filed application)
2. Useful
3. Non-obvious to someone skilled in the art

Three types of patents

1. utility (structure and function) - patent lasts 20 yrs.
2. design (look and feel) - patent lasts 14 yrs.
3. plant (invented or discovered asexually reproduced plant) - patent lasts 20 yrs.

Patents must provide full disclosure of the technology. 85-90% of technical information disclosed in patents is not found anywhere else!

Search using Google patents

1) Look up the skateboard patent. Patents are assigned to "classes" of similar inventions. How many classifications does this invention have? Select the link for one of them. Why is knowing the classification useful?

2) Find a patent related to your project.

Tip: use search terms that describe components (motor, sensor) or the purpose of the invention (steering, heating). Product names are not in patents.