Last week, Washington came to Happy Valley in the form of a visitor from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  Bob Oberleitner, Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations for the Mechanical Disciplines and a 1982 Penn State Industrial Engineering grad, talked with our technical writers on Monday, October 19, 2009, about topics ranging from level of detail in technical description, to blogs, to patents that get covered in the news for their outrageousness.

USPTO in the News

The USPTO has issued over 7 million patents over its history and currently averages issuing anywhere from 150,000 to 170,000 new patents each year. Bob oversees several mechanical groups at the USPTO. In the mechanical technologies applicants file and examiners examine various products from fishing lures to photocopiers, trains to planes. These patents rarely hit the newspapers.  Bob pointed out that even though the USPTO issues thousands of valuable and valid patents each year to no fanfare, there are a few that may look or sound odd in the news and for which the Office is criticized.  Take for instance: 

• Dog Waste Catcher and Holder
• Animal Toy that Looks Like a Stick
• Method of Swinging on a Swing
• Amusement Apparatus for Kicking the User's Butt

While Michael Jackson didn't come up during class, after class Bob mentioned that Michael Jackson several trademarks and one patent, and so his original signature on applications is on file with the USPTO. (For instance, Jackson is the co-inventor of a "system for allowing a shoe wearer to lean forwardly beyond his center of gravity by virtue of wearing a specially designed pair of shoes which will engage with a hitch member movably projectable through a stage surface.") After Jackson's death, USPTO employees were worried that fans would request Jackson's file to collect his autograph, and so for  this and other reasons they pulled the file and put it on display with other Jackson memorabilia at the USPTO National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum.

USPTO in the Blogosphere and Online

The websites pointing to the "dog waste catcher" and the "method of swinging" aren't the only websites and blogs that that keep an eye on and criticize the USPTO. IP Watchdog, PatentDocs, and Patently O (which bills itself as "The nation's leading patent law blog")  all write regularly and in detail about the policies and decisions of the Patent Office.

In August of this year, former IBM executive David Kappos was sworn in as Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, and since then has begun his own weekly blog for employees of the USPTO, published on the agency's intranet, where he encourages employees to respond to his posts and issues facing the office.

Tug-of War Over Detail in Descriptions

A central part of the patent application process is the description of the patentable product or process, complete with drawings. The USPTO employs 6200 patent examiners to scrutinize and respond to patent applications (the Office has hired 1200+ examiners in each of the years 2006, 2007 and 2008, and less than 600 in 2009; see USA Jobs to find such jobs). The examiners have to write questions and issues, correspond with patent attorneys, write up personal interviews, and discuss procedural problems and summarize the case in a report. In short, writing is required and important.

Patent attorneys want to present the broadest description of a client's product for patent (so that it can cover more ground and exclude more competitors). Patent examiners are in a position where they need to push attorneys for more precision and detail in the description so that the patent claims do not encompass other know devices or inventions.

So You Want to Patent Your Invention?

A patent gives an inventor a short-term monopoly on a device, design, or process (patents extend 20 years from filing). The USPTO begins educating its customers by offering a clear definition and description of "patent" on its website. In the USPTO's "Guide to Filing a Design Patent Application,"  the definition of "design patent" and the description of what such a patent application should look like needs to be precise and detailed; it sounds legalistic because attorneys are involved and will make decisions about what is patentable and where patent infringement exists. To a certain extent, the precision of the language affects how successful the monopoly will be and how much money a creator will make.

Do you want to write your Technical Definition and Description assignment for a new product or process? Use models from the USPTO and their guidelines to help tailor your project.

A:

1. By following these instructions, your computer should provide good service for many years.
2. To examine the chemical homogeneity of the plaque sample, one plaque was cut into nine sections.
3. The boats in production could be modified in time for the February debut by choosing this method.

I've highlighted the modifying phrases that are "dangling". What it means for them to be dangling is that they do not have a word or phrase to modify. (A similar problem, a "misplaced modifier," has a word or phrase to modify, but the misplaced modifier needs to be placed closer to the word/phrase it modifies to eliminate confusion). I'll tell you how to fix the first one:

a.       It sounds like "your computer" can do something "By following these instructions," but it's really some actor missing from the sentence that needs to follow the instructions. So it needs to read:

By following these instructions, you can ensure that your computer provides good service for many years to come.

b.      To fix this one ask, "is the plaque examining the chemical homgeneity of the sample"? If not, what or who is?

c.       To fix this one ask, "who or what is choosing this method?

Today in class we identified and addressed grammatical issues with some sentences drawn from your job application packages. Now you'll take care with these issues in future writing projects, right?

1.    This job is to supervise Quality control at X's Smithfield Pennsylvania catalyst plant. Now this Job entails the supervision of quality control processes.

The issues here are several:

a.    Capitalization--take care, use logic, and consult rules before capitalizing a word. Quality and Job should not be capitalized.

b.    Redundancy--the second sentence doesn't really say anything more than the first sentence.

c.    Commas--when writing the name of a place, a comma is required between town and state. When the state comes in the middle of a sentence, it requires a comma on either side (as it is an "interrupter" in the sentence).

d.    Tone--"Now" sounds like a conversational  sentence starter and it confuses the meaning of the sentence. Delete.

Revised:  

This job's central duty is to supervise quality control processes  at X's Smithfield, Pennsylvania, catalyst plant.

2.    I tailored my resume to show that I have had numerous experiences selling products, while responsibly representing the parent company; all the while highlighting my success and achievements.

The issues here:

a.    Semi-colons--they always join independent clauses (clauses that can stand alone as a sentence).  Here, "all the while..." is not an independent clause.

b.    Logical connections between phrases and clauses--Chunk the sentence up into parts and see how one part relates to and connects with others. Phrases should be near the thing (verb, phrase, clause) they  modify. Sometimes untangling the sentence requires making more than one sentence out of it.

Revised:  

I tailored my resume to highlight my success and achievements, focusing especially on  my numerous experiences selling product while responsibly representing the parent company.

3.    During my job search there was a large range of criteria that companies were looking for in their employees.

AND

There have been numerous situations throughout my education that have given me the desired skills for this position.

Expletives--There is/there are/there have been/it is/it was, etc. are common ways that we construct sentences, but these phrases often serve no purpose in the sentence and make it longer, wordier, and less direct than it could be. Remove the "there is" and rewrite to make more direct.

Revised:

During my job search, I discovered that companies seek a wide range of criteria in their employees.

AND

Numerous situations throughout my education  have given me the desired skills for this position.

OR: Through my education, I have gained the desired skills for this position.

4.    I am currently a senior studying X Science at the Pennsylvania State University. The X Society posted a job opening for the X Department. I am interested in applying and would appreciate consideration for the position.

AND

I am writing to you in response to the job advertisement located on Monster.com. I would like to be considered for the mechanical engineering position that was offered in the advertisement.

Sentence combining--Choppy, similar sentences can be made smoother by combining them. Sentences that are similar in construction and length can be made more interesting by varying their construction and length. (For example, instead of beginning most sentences with "I", begin with an introductory phrase or clause.)

Revised:

As a senior currently studying X Science at the Pennsylvania State University, I  would like to apply for the X Department position posted by The X Society on its website.  

AND

I am writing to apply for the mechanical engineering position advertised on Monster.com.

5.    During my undergraduate studies at PSU, the classes that interested me the most were the ones which could be applied to an audio environment.

Which vs. that--a great discussion of when to use "which" and when to use "that" can be found here: http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/whoVwhVt.asp.

Revised:

During my undergraduate studies at PSU, the classes that interested me the most were the ones that could be applied to an audio environment.

6.    The mechanical engineering program at PSU provided me with surplus of experience with working in teams.

Preposition pile-up--Sentences get convoluted when we pile prepositional phrase upon prepositional phrase. You don't have to remove them all...just limit their use. (We discussed this when we talked about Markel's Chapter 10.)

Revised:

Penn State's mechanical engineering program has provided ample opportunities for me to work in teams.

1) attendance and involvement during class
2) website/portfolio.

Why Usability Testing Matters --
Palm Beach County Ballot Design Raises Questions about Election 2000

08 Nov 2000; Dennis G. Jerz
The result of the 2000 U.S. Presidential race was so close that some Democratic Party officials argue that one Florida county's hard-to-use ballot may have unfairly decided the presidency.

Critics argue that some voters in Palm Beach County, Fla. might have accidentally voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan, when they thought they were voting for Al Gore. The Democrats are listed second in the left column; but punching a hole in the second circle actually cast a vote for Buchanan. 

(More of this webpage discussing the ballot design's possible impact on the 2000 election is available here. On the whole, Dr. Jerz's weblog about technical communication is informative and interesting--take a look.)

Markel addresses the issue, but here's a helpful image and weblink:

More than you ever wanted to know about when and how to use these signs can be found at the website of a company called Clarion.

Descriptions vs. Instructions 

You can see the difference between the descriptions and instructions here:

• Process description of drycleaning vs. instructions for dry cleaning something yourself
• Process description of how beer is made vs. instructions for teaching your dog to get a beer
• Other process examples: How Air Traffic Control Works; How In Vitro Fertilization Works