Jeffrey Killian

Today, the patent system is a very fluid situation due to recent legislation and court decisions that have caused considerable uncertainty and legal maneuvering.  As a first-time inventor, I had no idea as to the legal battle in the background regarding what ideas should receive a patent… I am in appeal with the United States Patent and Trademark Office regarding whether my invention is routine, conventional or well understood.  And that labeling of my invention as being routine, conventional or well understood is in view of submitted evidence on the official record that no one in my field of technology uses my claimed methods, either individually or as a combination. Clearly, there is a problem with the patent system in the United States of America.

If someone told me when starting my career in 1976 that I would discover a process that has been beyond the reach of professionals and experts for over 62 years, I would have laughed.  If the same person also told me that it would be virtually impossible to protect that discovery with a patent in the United States of America, I would have been equally dismayed.  The preceding scenario is exactly what is being experienced by many inventors and me.  I am a common person who caught lightning in a bottle with an invention, only to be frustrated by the patent system in the United States and left wondering can I hold on long enough until the madness stops?