Inventions

www internet source code nft auction

Original Web Browser Source Code Being Auctioned as NFT

Copyrights, Internet, Inventions, Inventors, NFT, Patents / By / June 16, 2021

Tim Berners-Lee, known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, is auctioning off the source code to the original web browser as an NFT. Some find Berners-Lee’s sale of his intellectual property odd because he famously refused to patent what is clearly one of the most important inventions in history.

Invented in 1989, the “WorldWideWeb” application was the first hypermedia browser/editor, allowing users to create and navigate links between files across a network of computers.

The auction includes the original archive of dated and time-stamped files, approximately 10,000 lines of source code for the HTML, HTTP, and URI protocols that are still in use today. Also included are the original HTML documents that instructed early web users on how to use the application.

Sotheby’s, which is running the auction, compares owning Berners-Lee’s code to owning the original hand-written manuscript of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”.

"post-it notes" by Dean Hochman is licensed with CC BY 2.0

The Inventor of the Post-It Note Has Died

Inventions, Inventors, Patents / By / May 14, 2021

The inventor of the Post-it Note has died. Dr. Spencer Silver, a research chemist at 3M, was trying to create an adhesive strong enough for use in aircraft construction. Though he failed at that, his various experiments produced a reusable adhesive that stuck to and easily peeled away from surfaces.

Dr. Silver tried to get 3M to take notice of his adhesive for years. Six years after he developed the adhesive, a chemical engineer looking to develop new products showed some interest. Art Fry worked in the tape division at 3M. He was frustrated that his bookmarks in his hymnal kept falling out. So he applied Dr. Silver’s adhesive and found that it held the bookmark in place and didn’t tear the pages when it was removed. The first Post-it was born.

Executives were skeptical of the product after testing it in various markets in the late 1970s. But they were ultimately convinced when one test revealed that 90 percent of receptionist in one market would buy the product.

3M introduced Post-it Notes in 1979. The adhesive was patented in 1972. In 1993 Art Fry received a patent for a method of making the Post-it.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/business/spencer-silver-dead.html

Featured Image Credit: “post-it notes” by Dean Hochman is licensed under CC BY 2.0

USPTO Issues Patent No 11000000 Twitter @patentauthority Elliot Furman

United States Issues Patent Number 11,000,000

Inventions, Inventors, Patents, USPTO / By / May 11, 2021

The United States issues patent number 11,000,000 today, three years after the USPTO issued patent number 10 million.

The first patent, which was signed by George Washington, was issued on July 31, 1790 to Samuel Hopkins for a process of making potash, an ingredient used in fertilizer. By 1836, over 9,900 patents had been issued. On July 13 of that year the U.S. started numbering patents. Patent No. 1 was issued to John Ruggles for a traction wheel for steam locomotives.

Since then, patents have issued at an exponential rate.

USPTO Exponential Growth of Patents
Image Courtesy of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Patent No. 11,000,000 is for a new method for delivering, positioning, and/or repositioning a collapsible and expandable stent frame within a patient’s heart chamber.

Other interesting historical facts about patents can be found on the USPTO’s page Milestones in U.S. Patenting.

Eye Sweat Diverter Patent Took 15 Years to Get

How Long Does It Take to Get a Patent?

Inventions, Patents, USPTO / By / April 23, 2021

In the case of this patent for an eyebrow sweat diverter, nearly 15 years!

I get asked the question a lot. It varies based on the technology classification and other factors. Simple design patents can issue within approximately 18 months. Complex software patents can take several years. The USPTO has a patent dashboard that gives current pendency data and other interesting statistics.

Patent Dashboard Pendency March 2021
Patents Data Visualization Center March 2021

As of March 2021, there were over 619,000 unexamined patent applications. It takes on average over 16 months from the time you file your patent application until it is examined and you are issued an office action. The office action usually contains page after page of rejections. You must respond to those rejections and then may receive another round of rejections to which you must respond. And so forth. This back and forth can take some time.

The USPTO reports that, on average, it takes nearly two years from the time you file to the time your patent application until it is granted. However, my experience is often different. In the complex areas I work in with many startups – software, telecommunications, AI, blockchain, internet – I have found that typical pendency times are significantly longer. There are ways to speed up the examination of your patent application, but there are often costs associated with doing so that must be carefully considered.

Filling a patent application is the start of a long complex legal process with no guarantee that your application will ever mature into an issued patent. As a startup or entrepreneur with limited funds it is imperative you do things right from the start. Contact us to get started. We’ll answer all of your questions and set you down the path to success.