I presume they were consulting you with regard to a
patent. If
so, it is clear evidence that the USPTO ought to require a working
model with
all applications which is required to be held by the patent holder
for the
duration of the patent.
Actually, I prefer to think that it
demonstrates my skill and care at
drafting patent applications, as well as my
adherence to my ethical
obligations.
That said, I have to note that your
point has nothing to do with the
issue at hand, namely, whether software -- or
more precisely, computer-
related inventions -- should be patentable. But the
story of patent models is
interesting in its own right.
Patent models
were
required by statute, but only between 1790 and 1870. The Patent
Office, on
its own, required models until 1880 and some models were still being
submitted until about 1900. (There's nothing wrong with allowing
applicants being able to submit models, but I question the legality of whether
the Patent Office could require models when they have no
authorization
from Congress to do so.)
The reason for the model requirement is generally
understood to have
been the lack of technological and legal training by early
inventors. Generally
speaking, they found it difficult to draft applications
that described their
invention in words and diagrams. Since there are people
who now can help
them do that (they are called patent agents and patent
draftspersons), and
since inventors now (mostly) have technological training or
some kind, there
is no need to keep this requirement, which is about 130 years
out of date.
By 1880, over 246,000 patents had been issued, of which about
200,000
were represented by models stored by the Patent Office. The models
were
eventually placed into storage by the Patent Office and sold off during
the
Coolidge administration. (Keep Cool with Coolidge, I always say.)
Basically,
Congress didn't want to get stuck with the bill for storage of
hundreds of
thousands of models, each of which was permitted to be as
large as
a cubic foot (12in x 12in x 12in) in volume. Some of the models that
were
disposed of
are still available for purchase from private parties, if you
actually want to own
one. There are very few models still at the USPTO in
Washington, DC, but the
last time I was there (which was quite a few years
ago), they had a (very) small
number of models on display in the lobby.
But
if you want to innundate the USPTO with unnecessary items for bulk
storage, all
you have to do is reinstate the model requirement that was done
away with over
130 years ago. Just remember that there are now some
8,000,000 patents that
have been issued. And many inventions do not easily
scale to a one cubic foot
working model. (Think wastewater and water
purification plants, or nuclear
power plants, for example.)
Why so many more patents now than back in the
1880s? What caused
this explosion in the number of patents?
I imagine the
reason is related to the fact that Abraham Lincoln won the
election of 1860
even though he only received a popular vote of 1,865,908.
That's not his
margin in the election -- that's his total
popular vote.
By
the way, Abraham Lincoln was an inventor. His patent was number
6,469, issued
on May 22, 1849, for a device to lift boats over shoals. The
invention was
never manufactured, so I guess that by today's definitions, that
would make our
16th President a "Patent Troll," or at least a "Non-
Manufacturing Entity."
Perhaps that further explains his low popular vote.
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