Week 10: Robert Kearns

Robert William Kearns (March 10, 1927 – February 9, 2005) was the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper systems used on most automobiles from 1969 to the present. His first patent for the invention was filed on December 1, 1964. Kearns won one of the best known patent infringement cases against Ford Motor Company (1978–1990) and a case against Chrysler Corporation (1982–1992). Having invented and patented the intermittent windshield wiper mechanism, which was useful in light rain or mist, he tried to interest the "Big Three" auto makers in licensing the technology. They all rejected his proposal, yet began to install intermittent wipers in their cars, beginning in 1969.He sued Ford Motor Company in 1978 and Chrysler Corporation in 1982 for patent infringement. The Ford case went to trial in 1990. Ford lost, although the court held that Ford's infringement was not willful (meaning that damages for infringement would not be enhanced). Ford agreed to settle with Kearns for US$ 10.1 million with an agreement of no further appeals. He sued Ford Motor Company in 1978 and Chrysler Corporation in 1982 for patent infringement. The Ford case went to trial in 1990. Ford lost, although the court held that Ford's infringement was not willful (meaning that damages for infringement would not be enhanced). Ford agreed to settle with Kearns for US$ 10.1 million with an agreement of no further appeals. After the settlement with Ford, Kearns mostly acted as his own attorney in the subsequent suit against Chrysler, even questioning witnesses on the stand. The Chrysler verdict was decided in 1992, and was a victory for Kearns. Chrysler was ordered to pay Kearns US$ 18.7 million with interest. Chrysler appealed the court decision, but the Federal Circuit let the judgment stand. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case. By 1995, after spending over US$ 10 million in legal fees, Kearns received approximately US$ 30 million in compensation for Chrysler's patent infringement. The legal argument that the auto industry posed in defense was that an invention is supposed to meet certain standards of originality and novelty. One of these is that it be "non-obvious." Ford had claimed that the patent was invalid because Kearns' intermittent windshield wiper system had no new components. Dr. Kearns noted that his invention was a novel and non-obvious combination of parts. Kearns' position found unequivocal support in precedent from the U.S. Court of Appeals and from the Supreme Court of the United States.

Week 9: First Amendment & the News

"With respect to the individual down in Florida, let me repeat what I said a couple of days ago. The idea that we would burn the sacred texts of someone else's religion is contrary to what this country stands for," Obama said. "My hope is this individual prays on it and refrains from doing it." Quoted from www.miamiherald.com. I personally Pastor Jones from Gainsville Florida is insane and his plans for burning a holy book (The Quran) are ridiculous. The fact that it in protest of a Masjid (mosque) that’s proposed to be built in New York and not Florida only proves ignorance and misuse of the first amendment right. This would only cause misunderstanding between believers of Muslim faith and Christianity be the Catholics or Protestants all over the world and not only in America. It will create riots and violence amongst believers. American will not be safe because this would create an excuse for Jihads and terrorist bomber to attack America both local and occupations in foreign grounds. The Rev. Terry Jones from the Dove Outreach Center in Florida triggered outrage when he promised to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Thousands of Afghans are protesting a small American church's plan to burn the Muslim holy book. At least 11 people have been injured. Police in the northern province of Badakhshan say several hundred demonstrators ran toward a NATO compound where four attackers and five police were injured in clashes. Protesters also burned an American flag at a mosque after Friday prayers. Muslims see Quran burning threat as targeting the direct word of God. The Quran is the most sacred object in the daily lives of Muslims and burning it would be considered an offense against God. Islam teaches that the holy book is the direct word of God, received by the Prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel, and it defines the belief and conduct for followers of the religion. I believe that the people behind Pastor Jones evangelic church have not had the opportunity to read a page of the Quran, and their participation in burning the holy book will be out of ignorance. Such leaders that misuse their role in society by giving wrong guidance and teaching the wrong message should be stripped of their privileges. They act with no consideration of humanity, other people's lives and their followers.

EOC WEEK 8: Legal Questions

1. If I lose inspiration and go online and use someone else’s design, more than I intended to. Will I be safe from a lawsuit if I changed it enough so it isn’t exactly the same? What recourse do I have if the roles are reversed, if my work is the work being stolen?
2. If I’m asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Can I use the skills that I developed in the company to earn money through free lance work?
3. As a designer working for an employer. Can part of a design from that company be considered a trade secret that I’m prohibited from using any work that was not solicited from within the firm?
4. If I come up with an original idea during employment with a company, who owns the rights to it, myself or the company? Is there any way I can make it my own to sell to others?
5. How much do you charge to read a contract and advise/interpret it for me?
6. If a company give you a design and didn’t know it was inspired by another company and you didn’t know anything about it, can you still be sued?
7. If there’s an ownership of idea in a contract, what types of word or clause to look for?
8. What is the best response to a non compete disclosure contract? (what’s the best way to handle it)
9. What rights do I retain when using company software?
10. In a series, do you copyright individually or as a series?
11. What is the average price to keep an attorney on retainer?

Week 7 EOC: What Legal Issues Concern You Most

‘What legal issues concern me?” Quite an interesting question. I have quite a number of legal concerns about certain issues. One of the first on the least is Immigration Law. Being naturalized citizen of the United States, I am very bitter about this whole situation with the new immigration law being proposed in my neighboring state of Arizona. I personally think it’s ridiculous to chase hardworking residents from a country they’ve been residing for numerous years, due to old age American citizen that don’t even work and are just feeding off social security, complaining about them and fighting for their tax dollars and election fundraising monies to be used to eradicate these immigrants. I can understand the fact that someone could be an illegal, but here should be a better solution to getting this person legalized and giving them the same opportunity to exercise their right as a human being and not treated like an intruding wild animal. Many of these working illegal’s are punctual tax payers because of not wanting to be interfered with my uncle sum and the government who spend their money and resources hunting them. This country was built on a raw deal given to the original inhabitant the Indians and therefore should be welcoming to foreigners because I believe it was illegally stolen. I am also concerned with the law on legalizing marijuana. I personally believe this I just going to create confusion with the dos and don’ts once the law is passed. The discussion has been the drug being state legal and federal illegal. Federal always rules over state law. The drug dealers and traffickers are going to infiltrate with the system and corrupt the government officials with drug money to keep drugs illegal and particular jurisdictions or turf that they control with drug distribution. Those are just a few of my concerns for now till next time.

Week 6: Illicit? What Do You Think?

I think we are living in a huge world of counterfeit, illegalities, fakes, corruption and disgustingly no regard for human life. The video I just watched from National Geographic Movie production titled “Illicit: The Dark Trade” is astonishingly surprising with full videotaped evidence these illegalities. In countries like China, where most of the goods sold around the world are produced, there is mass production and resale of these counterfeit goods on a large scale out in the fashion districts in the slums. These illegal productions and sales are fueled by millions of dollars from tourist all over the world from countries like United State, Europe, and continents like Africa. The tourist even has a choice of picking their dream item from a catalogue that was published by the counterfeiters. The pharmaceutical traffickers are taking advantage of the medical business due to the high demand of drugs like Viagra and are mass producing for online companies that don’t even require prescriptions to sale these products to their online customers. There a millions of these multimillion dollar companies on the web that utilize the border of many countries across the world to traffic drugs. These fake drugs, of which some are poisonous, may end up being mixed in with the real effective drugs at international boarders and could be consumed at your neighborhood pharmacy. With the rise of criminal networks across the globe and large dollars amounts of illegal money floating across continents, guns are and raw materials for terrorist acts are on the rise as well. To my surprise, slavery still exists internationally. Human traffickers are being hired being mafia organizations to shipped workers across borders for cheap labor and the solicitation of their counterfeits. Many of these slaves have no choice but to hustle for a plate of food on the table and wiring monies to their families abroad. In conclusion, we are consumers should be ashamed and should play our part to stop these acts. I personally would be afraid of consuming Tylenol from my neighborhood pharmacy.

EOC WEEK 4 TEN OF MOST MEANINGFUL PATENT TERMS

PATENT AGENT
PATENT EXAMINERS
ISSUE FEES
OFFICE ACTION
PATENT TROLL
USPTO
PRIOR ART
PRICE FIXING
SUBMARINE PATENT
UTILITY PATENTS

EOC Week Three: Jeopardy

This is a description of Adam’s Jeopardy Game. I am building this game from the definitions in the Patent, Copyright & Trademark text. I have never done this before and I have no interest in the game or watching it on television, but it is an assignment and I have to do it. There e are four different categories in the game and five different award sections. The groups I have chosen for my question are Organizations, Application Process, Patents and Law. The award sections range from $100 question up to the $500 question. I think this game has helped me to do my revision so I can get familiar with the texts and where to find them when I need a particular definition. This Contracts and Negotiations class is really helpful to me because it has helped me understand my rights in terms of business and invention. My skills and ideas are unique and it is to my best interest to protect and benefit from them by patenting and copyrighting my inventions and materials. The way this game will be played is by me running a description of a term from the text on the screen and one of the students from a group that’s chosen attempts to crack the answer. Each question is worth a particular amount of points, as specified earlier in the blog, depending on its difficulty level. An example of one of the $100 question is (Blank) is a grant by the USPTO that allows the rightful owner to maintain a monopoly for a period of time on use and development of invention. Answer: What is a PATENT? Question2: (Blank) is a term for someone who sues for the patent infringement but doesn’t make or sell any products using the patent technology. Answer: What is PATENT ROLL? I have no intentions on making the game very difficult to the level of impossibility but neither will I make it that easy.

EOOC WEEK 2: What Do You Think Of Lawyes?

I think of lawyers as parasites or scavengers. They use you and your money and after they’ve sucked you dry, they throw you to the curb and move on to the next victim. From personal experience, I had a legal case, details omitted for privacy, and I knew I needed a lawyer to represent me in court. I explained to him my situation and he said we had a case. I quoted me his hourly fees and we agreed to a payment plan. After filling the case, we proceeded with court appearances. The defense had as good lawyer as mine. Some court days went well for me and others not that good. But after every court appearance, my lawyer shook hands with the defense lawyer; they chuckled and cracked a joke or two. My lawyer seemed to have a good relation with the judge as well, as they chuckled as well after court session. They left me wondering if I was being taken for a legal ride as I’d heard around from other people. I always made frequent visits to lawyers’ office before next court proceeding to see where I stand in succeeding and winning. I always encouraged me to continue and of course asked for his monthly pay after the meeting. Out of curiosity, I inquired with another lawyer and he said I had a weak case and was probably going to lose the case. I forwarded this over to my attorney and advised me he knew what he was doing and should continue with the case. Due to weak evidence on my side, the case was thrown out on numerous occasions. My lawyer advised me to file appeals as he’d found a glitch in the case, and as always reminded me to make my payment to his cashier on my way out. To cut long story short , my lawyer knew at one point that I was going to lose, but as long as I had my right to appeal, he kept getting paid. Lawyers have no feelings.

Week 1: EOC ABOUT ME

I am an Architectural Drafting and Design student at The Art Institute of Las Vegas. I am per suing my AA Degree. I have always been in structural drawings, floor plans and overall elevations houses and buildings. Since my childhood, I’ve always liked like to draw & doodle everything I see of think of. One day I was at a clinic waiting on my dentist and was gazing at the ceiling and started wondering how construction is done to hold this ceiling that was above my head. From that day, I looked at building structures differently and started to imagine structural images I’d want to create. I have from then used programs like Google Sketch Up. It’s a very intuitive program and is very user friendly for the average beginner. It’s quite easy to create your own designs, floor plans and elevations. It is a beginner’s tool and is not the professional. To advance my skills and make a leaving from my talent, I needed to find someone to teach me how to use a different program called AutoCAD. Everyone in the field uses this famous program and are required to learn in it in order to be hired by an Architectural firm. I then decided to browse for schools and ended up registering at the Art Institute. I have just started my first class and am having fun. Hopefully, I learn to advance my skills and excel at being an Architectural Drafter and Designer.