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Ability of Patents to Protect Intellectual property

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Using Gilbert Hyatt's invention of the microprocessor and Robert Kearn's invention of the intermittent windshield wipers as examples, research and comment upon other incidents that call into question the ability of Patents to protect intellectual property.

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The discussion investigates the limitations of patents to protect intellectual property.

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A patent intends to protect exclusive ownership of products, design, prototype and/or similar objects. But instead of protecting intellectual properties, the U.S. Patent Office has been involved in rollercoaster ride of indecisiveness and uncertainty putting original investors at risk.
Broder (2012) noted that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded a patent for microprocessor to Intel in 1971 but reverse it and awarded that recognition to Gilbert Hyatt of La Palma, California, who had submitted a microprocessor patent application in 1970 and again in 1996 reversed its decision and recognized former Texas Instruments engineer Gary W. Boone as the inventor of the single-chip microprocessor but in 2003 the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously sided with Hyatt.
The case is still in the litigation stage.

It was largely known that "inventor Robert Kearns' patents for intermittent windshield wipers" (Thomas, 2008) but Ford infringed on his patent by installing the same products on its cars. Kearns eventually won the patent but the patent expired ...

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