Welcome to the Education section of the SiberKhem website. This section includes online courses and a discussion of various aspects of education that relate to patents, such as general literacy and legal education.
The purpose of education is to prepare for the future
(my definition). This definition applies to ALL humanity, not just
"school children", although school children are the primary focus of
most laws directed to education, e.g., Title 20 of the US Code. Most
countries have educational systems in which schooling is required for
children, often up to the age of 18. A basic focus of education is
literacy. However, other forms of "education" are provided in various
trades, in which an "apprentice" learns a trade in preparation to
become a "journeyman". The education taught in such trades amounts to
an apprentice learning by watching and repeating what the experienced
journeyman has demonstrated, thereby adopting the jargon and techniques of the trade. Unique aspects of the acquired trade can
distinguish journeymen, for example, greater detail in the finished
product, higher production, or particular designs, effects or
properties.
Why is this general information about education being provided in a
website that is ostensibly directed only to patents? It
is because patent documents themselves represent the latest accomplishments of a
trade explained in a combination of text and images. Thus, besides
knowledge of the particular trade, a patentee (i.e., the holder of a
patent, usually the inventor, but sometimes the assignee, to be
explained elsewhere) must be able to clearly descibe the inventive concept
in words, and, when necessary, to describe the invention in images as well.
Patents are officially issued documents that
provide certain limited rights to the patent holder for a defined
period of time. Most of the roughly 200 existing countries in the world
today have a patent "system". Three existing major patent systems provide a
general basis for all of the other existing systems: United States,
European Union, and Japan. The US, EU and JP systems engage in regular
conferences called the "Trilateral Conferences" as well as many smaller
meetings. Therefore, in order to obtain patents and patent protection
in all of these countries and in other countries as well, a prospective patent holder must become
familiar with a large number of rules and regulations.
It should be clear that many factors must successfully converge
in order for a patent to be issued. However, a patent search is
essential in nearly all situations; exceptions may occur when a patent application is part of a set of patent applications having similar subject matter and in which one patent search encompassed all subject matter in the applications. For example, companies who are in a
leading position in a particular industry, may decide to forego a
patent search, especially when the patents they file are actually
improvements of patents they already own.
Another aspect of education provided by patents is the timeline
and progress of various technologies in published patents, i.e.,
history of technological progress, the jargon used. For example, the contributions of
well-known inventors such as Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla, can be
compared for their real contribution to progress.
