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Perspective

Apr. 9, 2009

Keeping Innovation Inside the Box

After In re Ferguson, thinking outside the box can only be patented when it fits squarely in the decision's tight parameters, writes Scott Harris.

INSIGHT COLUMN

By Scott Harris

Innovators are often encouraged to "think outside the box" to make new inventions. The unpredictable nature of invention has changed the way we work, eat, sleep, and, now, how we get patents.

This importance of invention was central in Congress' mind when it enacted the current patent laws in 1952. "Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and use...

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