Class 05: Patent ; Writing: Actions

Held: Thursday, 1 September 2005

Summary: Today we consider the basics of U.S. Patent law.

Convocation:

• President Osgood.

Due

• Writing Assignment 2: Copyright and Links, Revisited.
• Miscellaneous Assignment 4: Course Syllabi.
• Miller I.
• McLeod 5.
• Williams 3.

Handouts:

• Style exercise 2.

Notes:

• Don't forget to show up for convociation today (and yes, there really is convocation today).
• A few of you noticed broken links in the course web. I think I've fixed them all. Please let me know if you find others.

Overview:

• Basics of U.S. Patent Law.
• Patents and Native Discoveries.
• Writing Exercise.
• Scheduling Exercise.
• Patent Law, Revisited.

U. S. Patent Law

• Protects inventions rather than expression.
• Shorter duration.
• Why?
• Complicated application process.
• Long and interesting history.

McLeod on Patents

• Thesis?
  • Your words
  • His words
• Structure of argument as given by headings?
• Structure of argument as given by text?
• Reactions?

Writing: Characters and Actions

• We'll do Writing Exercise 2.

Syllabi

• This exercise builds on Miscellaneous Homework 3.
• I hope that everyone brought their syllabi today, as we'll need them for our discussion.
• We'll start with some small-group discussions.
  • Tell your colleagues something you discovered in doing the exercise.
  • Pick one or two large assignments that you have due, and explain to your colleagues (a) how much work you think you'll have to do for the assignment and (b) when you intend to do the work.
• We'll start with some fairly general reflective questions.
  • What, if anything, did you learn from this exercise?
  • What difficulties did you have in completing this exercise?
  • What is your workload in college likely to be compared to your workload in high school?
  • What is the scariest piece of work you have due?
• We'll continue by considering the stages in which you complete each kind of work. For example, if you have an exam on October 16, what might you need to schedule in advance of October 16?

Other Patent Issues

• Are there other issues you noted in Miller?