ε Intellectual Property - Overview

Preface

While the goal of this course not to teach students how to “get a patent”, often students will generate intellectual property that could be considered for this process.  It is important to learn how to document projects from an intellectual property stand point, and what protections patents can provide.  This section is an overview of the types of intellectual property.  It also addresses how to conduct patent searches to ensure you are not duplicating others work or infringing on another patent.

United States Patent Office
http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/search/index.jsp Links to an external site.

The Inventors Handbook
http://web.mit.edu/invent/h-main.html  Links to an external site.

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Understandings

  1. Individuals and other entities put extraordinary effort into protecting their intellectual property so they can control who has access to and use of their work. Intellectual property protections allow individuals or companies to maintain rights to profit from their ideas.
  2. The work of engineers has an impact on our society.
  3. There are principles and practices related academic research. Topic selection and design decisions should be research driven and driven data whenever possible.
  4. There are principles, practices, and techniques related to technical writing.
  5. There are principles and practices related to documenting an engineering design process that allow teams to work effectively, preserve the work allowing continuation at a later date, and protect the designer’s intellectual property.
  6. Relevant principles and practices of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) should be used to inform and justify design choices.  They should be evident and well documented in an engineering design process. 

 

Knowledge and Skills
It is expected that students will...

  1. Apply ethical standards recognized by the engineering community in all aspects of design.
  2. Use an engineering design process to help guide them through an open ended design problem.
  3. Create documentation to support understanding of a design process that captures critical waypoints in the design process.
  4. Develop professional and project planning skills to complete a design process successfully.
  5. Identify a problem and justify development of a solution from an academic, ethical, or market perspective.
  6. Identify and evaluate current and past solution attempts.
  7. Develop multiple possible solutions ideas.
  8. Create a prototype with a valid testing plan.
  9. Interpret testing results and summarize.
  10. Present the design process to a technical group with an understanding of the design process or the identified problem. Students will present their findings and defend process decisions.

 

Essential Questions

  1. What are the global challenges facing our world?
  2. What are the roles and responsibilities of engineering in society?
  3. What justifies expenditure of resources to try and solve a problem?
  4. What role does the market place play in engineering design?
  5. Why is it crucial to use a design process when trying to solve complex problems?
  6. What are the fundamental aspects of any engineering design process?
  7. What determines the next step in a design process?
  8. Why is documenting a design process important?
  9. What are the attributes of successful project planning and management?
  10. Why is it important for engineers and designers to utilize known scientific and mathematical principles?
  11. Why should I do independent research before contacting stakeholders or seeking expert support?
  12. Why is the intellectual property so important in engineering design?
  13. What is the difference between invention and innovation?
  14. Why is teaming often more effective than individuals working alone when solving a complex problem?
  15. How do you decide what key points are most important when given limited time to present findings?
  16. Do I need to create a solution that solves the problem to successfully complete this course?
  17. Should I design an authentic solution, what steps could I take beyond this course?

 

References

Foreman, L.J. & Welytok, J.G. (2009). The independent inventor’s handbook. New York, NY. Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
Grissom, F. & Pressmen, D. (2008). Inventor’s notebook: A “patent it yourself” companion. (5th ed.). Berkely, CA: Nolo.
Industrial Designers Society of America. (2009). Okala: Learning ecological design. Phoenix, AZ
International Technology Education Association, (2000). Standards for technological literacy. Reston, VA: ITEA.
InvestorWords.com (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.investorwords.com/
Lemelson MIT. (1994). Inventor's handbook. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/invent/w-main.html
Merriam-Webster. (2008). Merriam-Webster online. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and International Reading Association (IRA) (1996). Standards for the English language arts. Newark, DE: IRA; Urbana, IL: NCTE.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: NCTM.
National Research Council (NRC). (1996). National science education standards. Washington, D. C.: National Academy Press.
Pressman, D. (2009). Patent it yourself. (14th ed.). Berkely, CA: Nolo
The American heritage college dictionary. (4th ed.). (2007). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Ulrich, K.T. & Eppinger, S.D. (2008). Product design and development. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Webster's New World College Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.yourdictionary.com/intrapreneur
Williams, M. (2008). The principles of project management. Victoria, Australia: SitePoint Pty. Ltd.