Trivial patent
Trivial patent is a designation for a patent that has been granted for an invention which, in the opinion of the person using this term, has only a low level of creativity and is therefore not actually patentable .
Legal reference
Extract from the German Patent Act :
- § 1 - Prerequisite for an invention
- (1) Patents are granted for inventions that are new, involve an inventive step and are commercially applicable.
- § 4 - Invention based on inventive step
- An invention is considered to be based on an inventive step if it does not result in an obvious way from the prior art for the person skilled in the art. [...]
These formulations are identical in words in the European Patent Convention (Art. 52 and 56 EPC). According to the patent law of other countries (e.g. USA, Japan), similar wording should ensure that trivial further developments are not patented. In order to assess whether there is an inventive step, however, different standards are applied in each country.
Examples of patents considered trivial
- One-click patent for Amazon
- Progress indicator # Trivial patent in computer programs
- Patent on the hyperlink (direct link between two HTML pages)
- Status display of the Caps-Lock key , patented for IBM
- Double-click patent for Microsoft
- Vehicle code in domain names
- Several claims from patent EP352496 : Apparatus for cleaning vertical blinds, curtains or the like. According to BGH X ZR 140/99 p. 17
- Claim 1 from patent EP433563 : Process for the production of a bubble-free, calendered rubber sheet. In its original form members according BGH "bubble-free rubber sheet I" X ZR 7/00 p. 16
- The patent EP406982 : Method of impregnating ink absorbing means. According to BGH X ZR 185/00 p. 20
- The patent EP417928 : Endovascular support device and method. According to BGH X ZR 199/00 p. 17
- Unlocking gestures on touchscreens by Apple
See also
Web links
- Patent Association e. V.
- R. Stallman: The Anatomy of a Trivial Patent. with a criticism of the audit quality of the offices and courts.
