Re: Is this patent for real?

Congratulations on attempting your own patent search.

Freepatentsonline is a good commercial site; however, the place to do a patent search is actually the Patent & Trademark Office (or a patent depository library). The patent office has an online search engine that you can use to begin your search. It, too, is free. You can find it at www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

There are some odd patents out there. I have not studied the patent you cite, but elastic bands per se have been known too long to still be patented.

Very briefly, an invention is patentable if it is (a) novel, (b) useful, AND (c) not obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the field of the patent. To work around an existing patent and get your own patent on the improvement, you must improve the invention taught in the original patent in such a way that fulfills the above three criteria. You must then fully disclose the best mode of using your invention. There's a lot more to getting and maintaining a patent than just this, though.

Thanks for your question. If you wish to follow up with me, please feel free to get in touch.

Best regards,

Nancy Delain, Registered Patent Attorney

The information presented here is general in nature and is not intended as nor should it be construed as legal advice. For advice concerning your personal situation, consult your attorney.

Re: Is this patent for real?

“To establish literal infringement, every limitation set forth in a claim must be found in an accused product, exactly.” Southwall Technologies, Inc. v. Cardinal IG Co., 54 F.3d 1570, 1575 (Fed. Cir. 1995). If an accused product or process does not literally infringe a patented invention, the accused product or process may be found to infringe under the Doctrine of Equivalents. The essential objective inquiry is: “Does the accused product or process contain elements identical or equivalent to each claimed element of the patented invention?” Warner-Jenkinson Co. v. Hilton Davis Chemical Co., 117 S. Ct. 1040, 41 USPQ2d 1865, 1875 (1997).