patent press release overreaching

Public Service Announcement from PHOSITA: IP Law 101 should be a required course for all marketing and recruiting professionals. 

Why, you ask.  Well, take for example this quote from Synapse’s Recruiting Website:

We have received several patents, all of
which signify the US government's faith in
our business initiatives.

Not really.  The U.S. government (i.e. the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) has reviewed the claims of your patent applications and determined that these specific claims are (1) novel (i.e. new) and (2) non-obvious over the prior art documents that the USPTO has available to them.  The prior art database available to the USPTO Examiner, while extensive, is not exhaustive by any means.  Thus, an allowed patent is only valid with respect to the prior art over which it was examined.  Find new prior art that wasn’t considered and the validity of the claims could be in question.

An issued patent does not mean that your invention is worthwhile (see IPFunny for further reference), merely that no one has ever contemplated the exact sequence of steps or parts that you have claimed.

Nowhere in the process does the USPTO certify or endorse that the claimed subject matter is of value (the utility standard – i.e. that a claimed invention is useful – is minimal at best) or that it is a useful business initiative.  For example, it has been estimated that only .8% of all ideas make it from the idea stage, through patenting and into the market, while only 5% of issued patents are ever commercially successful.

Marketers and recruiters really need to pay attention to these little details in their hype.  Potential employees utilizing a website to find jobs are probably fairly technologically savvy and know a little bit about the patent system.

Thanks to the Patent Chronicles blog for pointing to the quote.