Mar 2010 Meeting - How To Read a Patent
| Event Location: |
Gulf Coast Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
418 West Garden Street, 4th Floor
Pensacola FL 32502
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| Event Date and Time: |
3/24/2010 12:08 PM |
| Event Link: |
Register for this event |
Nevin Shaffer, a local attorney, will give a presentation on how to understand patents and patent claims.
A picture may be worth a thousand words but when it comes to understanding what a patent actually protects it may not help much. As a technical document, the inventor has the obligation to submit an enabling document such that a person of ordinary skill in the art can read, understand and practice the invention. Figures help the inventor meet this enablement requirement as does the detailed description of the invention. Nonetheless, the last thing listed in the patent application and the patent is the most important. There you will find weird little numbered paragraphs called the claims. This is where it is disclosed what actually is covered by the invention in the figures. What is claimed may be very different indeed from what is shown in the figures. This talk will help you learn about patents and patent claims and how to read them and instantly estimate if a patent is good or bad!
Speaker Information
Nevin Shaffer earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, an MBA from the University of Houston and Juris Doctor degree from St. Mary's University. Nevin is a Florida Board Certified Intellectual Property Law specialist. He was admitted to the Alabama Bar in 2009 and opened an office at the University of South Alabama Research and Technology Park.
Nevin has published articles and written a book, Protect Your Great Ideas for Free!, on intellectual property law. He regularly conducts lectures and seminars on the subject at local universities, businesses and professional associations. Nevin has prosecuted applications for a variety of electrical and mechanical devices, including computer software applications, semi-conductor devices, and sophisticated measuring devices. He has also successfully litigated patent, trademark, and copyright infringement actions, including presenting the winning oral argument at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a patent infringement case.
Nevin is a member of the Alabama, Florida and Texas Bar Associations and the Mobile and Escambia Santa Rosa County Bar Associations. He is a past president of the Austin Intellectual Property Law Association. Nevin is also a professional speaker. He loves to talk about how to protect ideas!
Nevin spent six years in the Navy as an engineering officer. His last sea duty was as engineering and executive officer of a patrol gunboat in which his responsibilities included the maintenance and operation of its electrical and mechanical equipment, including a J-79 jet engine. He is a retired Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
Nevin is an Eagle Scout and is active as an Assistant Scoutmaster in Gulf Breeze Troop 417.
Meeting Details
This meeting will be held at the Gulf Coast Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (formerly PJC Downtown ) conference room on the 4th floor. The meeting starts at 11:30 am and ends at 1:00 pm. The cost for lunch is $12 per person. The fee to attend without lunch is $5 per person.
Register for this event online. Payment can be made by cash or check (made out to ITGULFCOAST.ORG) at the event or during registration with Paypal. No-shows should send payment after the event via Paypal to payments@itgulfcoast.org.
The meeting is open to all ITGULFCOAST members, guests and to the public. For more information call our Chairman Chuck Hodge, DestinE Research Group at 850-418-1474.