Assessment Questions

A patent gives an inventor the exclusive right to which of the following?

1. The ability to profit from their invention.
2. The ability to prevent others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention.
3. The ability to prevent others from learning the secrets of the invention.
4. All of the above.

The “bargain” theory, a theoretical justification for patents, argues which of the following?

1. In exchange for inventing something useful, society gives the inventor the exclusive right to their invention for a limited time.
2. The product of mental labor should be the property of its creator.
3. Government negotiates with inventors to determine the value of an invention.
4. None of the above.

Which two public policy goals are served by granting patent rights?

1. By protecting the property rights of inventors, the wellsprings of creation do not dry up for lack of incentive.
2. Patent rights ensure equal treatment for all.
3. From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.
4. The public interest is served by disclosing the details of the invention and thereby promoting the progress of the nation.

Through which of the following means do patents also promote knowledge sharing?

1. To get a patent, inventors must disclose the secrets of their inventions.
2. Patents represent the world’s greatest library of technical knowledge.
3. Innovators keep up with technical trends by reading other inventors’ patents.
4. All of the above.

The Statute of Monopolies in 1624 ended the practice of granting patents for which of the following?

1. Inventions that were not truly novel.
2. The Crown’s favored inventors.
3. Trade in staples such as salt or soap rather than for actual inventions.
4. Inventions that helped industrialists monopolize whole industries.

Which of the following practices were common in early patent systems?

1. Exorbitantly high patent fees.
2. Limited or no disclosure of the details of the invention.
3. No examination for patent validity.
4. All of the above.

Early patent systems tended to have which of the following effects on the overall economy?

1. Innovation was limited to a small sector of the population.
2. Biased toward incumbent industries, early patent systems did not encourage disruptive change.
3. Early patent systems reinforced the wealth of elites, not the productive capacity of society.
4. All of the above.

The Founding Fathers created the U.S. patent system with which overarching goal in mind?

1. To defend America’s newly won independence.
2. To rapidly stimulate the growth of domestic industry.
3. To create advanced new weapons for America’s young army.
4. None of the above.

The U.S. patent system was designed to tap the creative and productive potential of which of the following?

1. Their abundant natural resources.
2. Their large stock of imported goods and machinery.
3. Rich agricultural lands.
4. An enterprising population with a “universal ambition to go forward”

Which of the following was NOT a unique feature of the U.S. patent system?

1. It was affordable by the common person.
2. It had an examination system to determine patent validity.
3. Patentees were required to make or sell products based on their inventions.
4. It had simplified application procedures.
5. It required full disclosure of the details of the invention.
6. It allowed for the sale and licensing of patent rights.

Which of the following is NOT true of the U.S. patent system?

1. Novelty, non-obviousness, and utility determine patent validity, not the identity or business model of the inventor.
2. Patents are freely transferable and tradable property rights.
3. You can’t infringe a patent if you honestly don’t know that it exists.
4. Patent holders are not required to make or sell products based on their inventions.

Compared with the Industrial Revolution, what is the overall patent litigation rate today?

1. It is twice what it used to be.
2. It is about the same as it used to be.
3. It is less than half what it used to be.

Historically speaking, patent litigation has served to which of the following?

1. Slow innovation and R&D.
2. Settle disputed rights to new technology so commercialization can proceed.
3. Block others from designing around patents.

How many years after the first patent law was signed in 1790 did it take for the United States to surpass Britain in the number of new inventions being patented?

1. 13 years.
2. 75 years.
3. 40 years.
4. 100 years.

Historically, in the United States, there have been major surges in new patent filings after which of the following?

1. A sharp increase in patent litigation.
2. New technological advances leading to the birth of new industries.
3. A Supreme Court decision on a major patent case.
4. None of the above.

What percentage of entrepreneurs say that patents are vital to securing venture funding?

1. 20 percent.
2. 40 percent.
3. 67 percent.

The United States was the only nation to define its greatness in its capacity for which of the following?

1. Economic growth.
2. Military superiority.
3. Bringing freedom to oppressed elsewhere in the world.
4. Technological progress.

A patentable invention is a new, novel, and non-obvious machine, manufacture, process, or composition of matter. Which of the four types of inventions categories do these hypothetical mousetrap inventions represent?

1. A mouse ray gun.
2. Exploding mouse glue.
3. A new way to catch mice using sound waves.
4. A mouse-destroying missile.

All patentable inventions fall into two broad categories—they are products or processes. Which category do the following fall into?

1. A machine.
2. A means to an end.
3. A composition of matter.
4. A manufacture.

Can an idea for a better mousetrap be patented?

1. Yes, so long as you outline the idea in detail.
2. No, you can’t patent a mere idea.

Which of the following is NOT patentable?

1. Electricity.
2. A random number generator.
3. A device that uses electricity to communicate.

When might a software be patentable?

1. If it contains a new, non-obvious, and useful algorithm.
2. If it takes a genuinely-inventive step to either trigger an action, employ a device, or in some other way produce a tangible transformative result.
3. If it records the sale of T-shirts over the Internet.
4. None of the above.

Which of the following cases was NOT one of the Supreme Court’s “software-eligibility trilogy” of cases?

1. Gottschalk v. Benson
2. Williams & Wilkins v. United States
3. Parker v. Flook
4. Diamond v. Diehr

Which court case most severely limited software patentability?

1. State Street Bank v. Signature Financial Group
2. In re Bilski
3. Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories
4. Alice v. CLS Bank

What is the so-called “Alice paradox”?

1. The highest-value new software products and services are also hardest to patent.
2. You can get software patents, but you can’t enforce them.
3. You can only patent software that replicates human activity.
4. None of the above.

Patents should only be granted for big revolutionary breakthroughs. True or False?

1. True.
2. False.

Which of the following Supreme Court cases held that a naturally occurring DNA segment CANNOT be patented?

1. Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Labs., Inc.
2. Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc.
3. Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc.

Which of the following is NOT a requirement for patent eligibility?

1. Novel.
2. Revolutionary.
3. Non-obvious.
4. Useful.

What does the term “prior art” refer to?

1. Any previous private discussions of an invention or its components.
2. Any previous patent, publication, or public use of an invention.
3. Any previous speculation about an invention.
4. None of the above.

If you invent a functioning starship warp drive, Star Trek would be considered prior art and your invention would be ineligible for a patent. True or False?

1. True.
2. False.

To meet the requirement for utility, which of the following must an invention do?

1. Work or function as intended.
2. Be of some benefit to society.
3. Be a worthwhile product, process, or composition of matter.
4. All of the above.

Why would combining a camera with a cell phone in a smartphone pass the test for non-obviousness, whereas putting wheels from a chair onto an office cart would not?

1. The technology in a smartphone is much more complicated.
2. Putting wheels from a chair onto a cart is less difficult.
3. Combining a camera and a cell phone produced an unexpected result.

Of the three criteria for patenting, which is the most difficult to surmount?

1. Utility.
2. Novelty.
3. Non-obviousness.

For which of the following are plant patents granted?

1. Bioengineered plants.
2. Naturally grown plants that are distinctively different.
3. Plants that are asexually cultivated, not grown from seeds.
4. All of the above.

What are the three patentability criteria for plant patents?

1. Novelty, utility, and non-obviousness.
2. Novelty, distinctiveness, and non-obviousness.
3. Novelty, beauty, and non-obviousness.

What are design patents granted for?

1. Functional designs for manufactured items, like the shape of a chair.
2. Ornamental designs for items of manufacture, like the fabric design of a chair.
3. All of the above.

What are the three patentability criteria for a design patent?

1. Novelty, utility, and non-obviousness.
2. Novelty, beauty, and non-obviousness.
3. Novelty, ornamentality, and non-obviousness.

By what percentage are filing fees reduced if the applicant is on of the following:

1. Universities, non-profits, and small businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
2. Those with gross income less than three times U.S. median household income or meet other certain critera.

What is the advantage of a provisional patent application, which lasts only one year?

1. It is less expensive.
2. It is not subject to examination.
3. It grants an early filing date while the inventor continues working on the invention.
4. All of the above.

What is the main disadvantage of a provisional patent application?

1. It reserves an early filing date for a later, nonprovisional application.
2. The claims in a later, nonprovisional application must be completely consistent with the early description contained in the provisional application.
3. The provisional patent only contains the specifications, and drawings, if any.
4. All of the above.

What is the most critical part of a patent application that determines both the inventor’s rights and an infringer’s liability?

1. The claims.
2. The specification.
3. The drawings.
4. The abstract.

Which of the following is the best strategy in drafting claims in a patent application?

1. Draft them as broadly as possible, to cover every possible use of the invention.
2. Draft them as narrowly as possible, so the examiner won’t reject them.
3. Draft them as broadly as the specifications and the prior art allows, then back up those broad claims with successively narrower claims as backup.

In a “first office action,” the examiner usually does which of the following?

1. Allows all the claims in the patent application.
2. Rejects some claims and/or requests further information.
3. Rejects the entire application.

In a second or subsequent examination, if the examiner finally rejects some or all of the claims, what can the applicant do at that point?

1. Cancel the rejected claims, leaving only allowed claims.
2. File what’s called a “continuation application.”
3. Appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
4. All of the above.