Posts Tagged: "pioneering patent"

Soverainv. Newegg: Not an Ordinary Obviousness Dispute

The absolute truth known to everyone in the innovation community is that pioneering innovations become commonplace. What was revolutionary at the time the invention was made becomes taken from granted. In hindsight pioneering innovations look insignificant because they have become ubiquitous. The public, judges and critics find it difficult (assuming they try) to determine whether that which is commonplace today was really, truly obvious decades earlier as of the critical date. Even when an honest and fair obviousness inquiry is undertake it can be exceptionally difficult to put yourself back to before the invention was made in order to determine what was known and what was obvious at the time. But let’s dispense with the ridiculousness, shall we? The overwhelming majority of the world was not at all knowledgeable about or clued into the World Wide Web at the time this innovation was first made. So let’s dispense with the histrionics.

USPTO Issues World’s First Invisibility Cloak Patent

Invisibility cloaks have long been a prop in science fiction stories, such as the Harry Potter invisibility cloak or the device used to cloak Klingon war ships in Star Trek.  The concept of invisibility goes back even much further in the writings of H.G. Wells and others.  But the science fiction invisibility cloaks seem to suggest that objects could be rendered invisible by diverting waves in a ‘see thru’ effect.  That is at least the path that these cloaks inspired researchers to take, seemingly to great affect. The ‘639 patent disclosure relates to techniques for cloaking objects at certain wavelengths/frequencies or over certain wavelength/frequency ranges (bands).