An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing , building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft , aircraft parts , missiles , rockets , or spacecraft . Aerospace is a high technology industry.
99-501: Caproni , also known as Società de Agostini e Caproni and Società Caproni e Comitti , was an Italian aircraft manufacturer . Its main base of operations was at Taliedo , near Linate Airport , on the outskirts of Milan . Founded by Giovanni Battista "Gianni" Caproni during 1908, the company produced several successful heavy bombers during the First World War . Following the acquisition of several other aviation firms throughout
198-464: A decree by which new and inventive devices had to be communicated to the Republic in order to obtain legal protection against potential infringers. The period of protection was 10 years. As Venetians emigrated, they sought similar patent protection in their new homes. This led to the diffusion of patent systems to other countries. The English patent system evolved from its early medieval origins into
297-453: A company helping another company to create a patented product or selling the patented product which is created by another company. There is also inducement to infringement, which is when a party induces or assists another party in violating a patent. An example of this would be a company paying another party to create a patented product in order to reduce their competitor's market share. This is important when it comes to gray market goods, which
396-403: A non-obvious inventive step. A patent is requested by filing a written application at the relevant patent office. The person or company filing the application is referred to as "the applicant". The applicant may be the inventor or its assignee. The application contains a description of how to make and use the invention that must provide sufficient detail for a person skilled in the art (i.e.,
495-417: A patent covers or the "scope of protection". After filing, an application is often referred to as " patent pending ". While this term does not confer legal protection, and a patent cannot be enforced until granted, it serves to provide warning to potential infringers that if the patent is issued, they may be liable for damages. Once filed, a patent application is "prosecuted" . A patent examiner reviews
594-464: A patent. In the United States, however, only the inventor(s) may apply for a patent, although it may be assigned to a corporate entity subsequently and inventors may be required to assign inventions to their employers under an employment contract. In most European countries, ownership of an invention may pass from the inventor to their employer by rule of law if the invention was made in the course of
693-506: A prohibited act that is protected against by the patent. There is also the Doctrine of Equivalents. This doctrine protects from someone creating a product that is basically, by all rights, the same product that is protected with just a few modifications. In some countries, like the United States, there is liability for another two forms of infringement. One is contributory infringement, which is participating in another's infringement. This could be
792-400: A right to make or use or sell an invention. Rather, a patent provides, from a legal standpoint, the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention for the term of the patent , which is usually 20 years from the filing date subject to the payment of maintenance fees . From an economic and practical standpoint however, a patent
891-588: A significant contribution in the development of heavy aircraft. Following the end of the conflict, the strategic bombing theories of Giulio Douhet were reputedly shaped by the operational use of Caproni bombers, and thus have been was seen as an important landmark in the history of aviation. The Interwar period was a busy one for Caproni. While the end of the First World War had led to a rapid decrease in demand for bombers, impacting orders for much of Caproni's traditional product line, Caproni elected to redirect
990-422: A similar alliance with either Embraer with its E-jet E2 or Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and its MRJ . On 21 December, Boeing and Embraer confirmed to be discussing a potential combination with a transaction subject to Brazilian government regulators, the companies' boards and shareholders approvals. The weight of Airbus and Boeing could help E2 and CSeries sales but the 100-150 seats market seems slow. As
1089-508: A special program to restore U.S. competitiveness across all U.S. industries, Project Socrates , contributed to employment growth as the U.S. aerospace industry captured 72 percent of world aerospace market. By 1999 U.S. share of the world market fell to 52 percent. In the European Union , aerospace companies such as Airbus , Safran , BAE Systems , Thales , Dassault , Saab AB , Terma A/S , Patria Plc and Leonardo are participants in
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#17328560101221188-506: A third party, without authorization from the patentee, makes, uses, or sells a patented invention. Patents, however, are enforced on a national basis. The making of an item in China, for example, that would infringe a US patent, would not constitute infringement under US patent law unless the item were imported into the US. Infringement includes literal infringement of a patent, meaning they are performing
1287-544: A unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states along with giving owners a 30-month priority for applications as opposed to the standard 12 the Paris Convention granted. A patent application filed under the PCT is called an international application, or PCT application. The steps for PCT applications are as follows: 1. Filing the PCT patent application 2. Examination during
1386-467: A yearly basis. Some countries or regional patent offices (e.g. the European Patent Office ) also require annual renewal fees to be paid for a patent application before it is granted. In the US, patent maintenance fees are due on 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 anniversaries of the patent issuance. Only ca. 50% of issued US patents are maintained full term. Large corporations tend to pay maintenance fees through
1485-411: Is Japan ), strong transportation infrastructure (#5, #1 is Hong Kong ), a healthy economy (#10, #1 is China ), but high costs (#7, #1 is Denmark ) and average tax policy (#36, #1 is Qatar ). Following were Canada , Singapore , Switzerland and United Kingdom . Within the US, the most attractive was Washington state , due to the best Industry (#1), leading Infrastructure (#4, New Jersey
1584-502: Is patentable subject matter from country to country, also among WTO member states. TRIPS also provides that the term of protection available should be a minimum of twenty years. Some countries have other patent-like forms of intellectual property , such as utility models , which have a shorter monopoly period. The word patent originates from the Latin patere , which means "to lay open" (i.e., to make available for public inspection). It
1683-403: Is #1) and Economy (#4, Texas is #1), good labor (#9, Massachusetts is #1), average tax policy (#17, Alaska is #1) but is costly (#33, Montana is #1). Washington is tied to Boeing Commercial Airplanes , earning $ 10.3 billion, is home to 1,400 aerospace-related businesses, and has the highest aerospace jobs concentration. Following are Texas, Georgia , Arizona and Colorado . In the US,
1782-419: Is a shortened version of the term letters patent , which was an open document or instrument issued by a monarch or government granting exclusive rights to a person, predating the modern patent system. Similar grants included land patents , which were land grants by early state governments in the US, and printing patents , a precursor of modern copyright . In modern usage, the term patent usually refers to
1881-511: Is based. Several consolidations took place in the aerospace and defense industries over the last few decades. Airbus prominently illustrated the European airliner manufacturing consolidation in the late 1960s. Between 1988 and 2010, more than 5,452 mergers and acquisitions with a total known-value of US$ 579 billion were announced worldwide. In 1993, then United States Secretary of Defense Les Aspin and his deputy William J. Perry held
1980-597: Is better and perhaps more precisely regarded as conferring upon its proprietor "a right to try to exclude by asserting the patent in court", for many granted patents turn out to be invalid once their proprietors attempt to assert them in court. A patent is a limited property right the government gives inventors in exchange for their agreement to share details of their inventions with the public. Like any other property right, it may be sold, licensed, mortgaged , assigned or transferred, given away, or simply abandoned. A patent, being an exclusionary right, does not necessarily give
2079-471: Is done pursuant to type certificates and Defense Standards issued by a government body. This term has been largely subsumed by the more encompassing term: " aerospace industry". In 2015 the aircraft production was worth US$ 180.3 billion: 61% airliners , 14% business and general aviation , 12% military aircraft , 10% military rotary wing and 3% civil rotary wing; while their MRO was worth $ 135.1 Bn or $ 315.4 Bn combined. The global aerospace industry
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#17328560101222178-449: Is even more pronounced when the number of patent applications is normalized by the country's population each year, or when the country of origin rather than country of filing is used. For the US, the population-normalized peak in patenting occurred in 1915, and the number of subsequent patents induced per patent has been mostly declining since 1926. A study of 4,512 patents obtained by Stanford University between 1970 and 2020 showed that
2277-700: Is evidence that some form of patent rights was recognized in Ancient Greece in the city of Sybaris , the first statutory patent system is generally regarded to be the Venetian Patent Statute of 1474. However, recent historical research has suggested that the 1474 Statute was inspired by laws in the Kingdom of Jerusalem that granted monopolies to developers of novel silk-making techniques. Patents were systematically granted in Venice as of 1474, where they issued
2376-618: Is patentable. Patentable material must be synthetic, meaning that anything natural cannot be patented. For example, minerals, materials, genes, facts, organisms, and biological processes cannot be patented, but if someone were to apply an inventive, non-obvious, step to them to synthesize something new, the result could be patentable. That includes genetically engineered strains of bacteria, as was decided in Diamond v. Chakrabarty. Patentability also depends on public policy and ethical standards. Additionally, patentable materials must be novel, useful, and
2475-436: Is sent by the patent office, or the patent application is granted, which after the payment of additional fees, leads to an issued, enforceable patent. In some jurisdictions, there are opportunities for third parties to bring an opposition proceeding between grant and issuance, or post-issuance. Once granted the patent is subject in most countries to renewal fees to keep the patent in force. These fees are generally payable on
2574-533: Is the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property , initially signed in 1883. The Paris Convention sets out a range of basic rules relating to patents, and although the convention does not have direct legal effect in all national jurisdictions, the principles of the convention are incorporated into all notable current patent systems. The Paris Convention set a minimum patent protection of 20 years, but
2673-471: Is the successor company to numerous British aircraft manufacturers which merged throughout the second half of the 20th century. Many of these mergers followed the 1957 Defence White Paper . Marconi Electronic Systems , a subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc , was acquired by British Aerospace for US$ 12.3 billion in 1999 merger, to form BAE Systems . In 2002, when Fairchild Dornier
2772-463: Is therefore only useful for protecting an invention in the country in which that patent is granted. In other words, patent law is territorial in nature. When a patent application is published, the invention disclosed in the application becomes prior art and enters the public domain (if not protected by other patents) in countries where a patent applicant does not seek protection, the application thus generally becoming prior art against anyone (including
2871-434: Is when a patent owner sells a product in country A, wherein they have the product patented, then another party buys and sells it, without the owner's permission, in country B, wherein the owner also has a patent for the product. With either national or regional exhaustion being the law the in country B, the owner may still be able to enforce their patent rights; however, if country B has a policy of international exhaustion, then
2970-642: The Regia Aeronautica (the Italian Air Force) granted its approval to proceed with the production of a pair of jet-powered prototype aircraft; Caproni was engaged to manufacture this aircraft, which was thus designated as the Caproni Campini N.1 , with Campini providing technical guidance while specialising in the engine's design. On 27 August 1940, the maiden flight of the experimental N.1 occurred at Caproni's Taliedo facility. On 30 November 1941,
3069-456: The A320 . Tier 1 consolidation also affects engine manufacturers : GE Aerospace acquired Avio in 2013 and Rolls-Royce took control of ITP Aero . Patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of
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3168-500: The Airbus A380 , less than 100 major suppliers outsource 60% of its value, even 80% on the A350 . Boeing embraced an aggressive Tier 1 model for the 787 but with its difficulties began to question why it was earning lower margins than its suppliers while it seemed to take all the risk, ensuing its 2011 Partnering for Success initiative, as Airbus initiated its own Scope+ initiative for
3267-567: The Bombardier Global Express pioneered the "Tier 1" supply chain model inspired by automotive industry , with 10-12 risk-sharing limited partners funding around half of the development costs. The Embraer E-Jet followed in the late 1990s with fewer than 40 primary suppliers. Tier 1 suppliers were led by Honeywell , Safran , Goodrich Corporation and Hamilton Sundstrand . In the 2000s, Rolls-Royce reduced its supplier count after bringing in automotive supply chain executives. On
3366-474: The CSeries partnership between Airbus and Bombardier Aerospace could trigger a daisy chain of reactions towards a new order. Airbus gets a new, efficient model at the lower end of the narrowbody market which provides the bulk of airliner profits and can abandon the slow selling A319 while Bombardier benefits from the growth in this expanded market even if it holds a smaller residual stake. Boeing could forge
3465-647: The Department of Defense and NASA are the two biggest consumers of aerospace technology and products. The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States reported that the aerospace industry employed 444,000 wage and salary jobs in 2004, many of which were in Washington and California, this marked a steep decline from the peak years during the Reagan Administration when total employment exceeded 1,000,000 aerospace industry workers. During that period of recovery
3564-570: The Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity and its system of Access and Benefit-Sharing . Representatives of Indigenous peoples view the GRATK Treaty as a "first step towards guaranteeing just and transparent access to these resources." Before filing for an application, which must be paid for whether a patent is granted or not, a person will want to ensure that their material
3663-472: The U.S. Congress was passed on April 10, 1790, titled "An Act to promote the progress of useful Arts". The first patent under the Act was granted on July 31, 1790, to Samuel Hopkins of Vermont for a method of producing potash (potassium carbonate). A revised patent law was passed in 1793, and in 1836 a major revision was passed. The 1836 law instituted a significantly more rigorous application process, including
3762-459: The WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (GRATK Treaty) mandating patent disclosure requirements for patents based on genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge from being granted. The Treaty contemplates revocation for patents incorrectly filed. The treaty, and in particular its planned extension, is seen as complementing
3861-745: The World Trade Organization (WTO) being particularly active in this area. The TRIPS Agreement has been largely successful in providing a forum for nations to agree on an aligned set of patent laws. Conformity with the TRIPS agreement is a requirement of admission to the WTO and so compliance is seen by many nations as important. This has also led to many developing nations, which may historically have developed different laws to aid their development, enforcing patents laws in line with global practice. Internationally, there are international treaty procedures, such as
3960-614: The interwar period , Caproni transformed into a sizable aviation-orientated syndicate , the Società Italiana Caproni, Milano . The majority of its aircraft were bombers and transport aircraft. It played a pioneering role in the development of the Caproni Campini N.1 , an experimental aircraft powered by a thermo-jet . It provided large numbers of combat aircraft for the Axis during the Second World War . The firm did not prosper in
4059-555: The postwar era and the Società Italiana Caproni went out of business in 1950. Many of the company's former assets were subsequently acquired by the Italian helicopter specialist Agusta . The company was founded during 1908 by the Italian aviation pioneer and aeronautical engineer Giovanni Battista "Gianni" Caproni . It was initially named, from 1911, Società de Agostini e Caproni , then Società Caproni e Comitti . Caproni
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4158-503: The "Last Supper" at the Pentagon with contractors executives who were told that there were twice as many military suppliers as he wanted to see: $ 55 billion in military–industry mergers took place from 1992 to 1997, leaving mainly Boeing , Lockheed Martin , Northrop Grumman and Raytheon . Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas for US$ 13.3 billion in 1996. Raytheon acquired Hughes Aircraft Company for $ 9.5 billion in 1997. BAE Systems
4257-575: The 18th century through a slow process of judicial interpretation of the law. During the reign of Queen Anne , patent applications were required to supply a complete specification of the principles of operation of the invention for public access. Legal battles around the 1796 patent taken out by James Watt for his steam engine , established the principles that patents could be issued for improvements of an already existing machine and that ideas or principles without specific practical application could also legally be patented. The English legal system became
4356-693: The CSeries, renamed A220, and E-jet E2 are more capable than their predecessors, they moved closer to the lower end of the narrowbodies . In 2018, the four Western airframers combined into two within nine months as Boeing acquired 80% of Embraer's airliners for $ 3.8 billion on July 5. On April 3, 2020, Raytheon and United Technologies Corporation (except Otis Worldwide , leaving Rockwell Collins and engine maker Pratt and Whitney ) merged to form Raytheon Technologies Corporation , with combined sales of $ 79 billion in 2019. The most prominent unions between 1995 and 2020 include those of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas;
4455-818: The French, German and Spanish parts of EADS; and United Technologies with Rockwell Collins then Raytheon, but many mergers projects did not went through: Textron-Bombardier, EADS-BAE Systems, Hawker Beechcraft-Superior Aviation, GE-Honeywell, BAE Systems-Boeing (or Lockheed Martin), Dassault-Aerospatiale, Safran-Thales, BAE Systems-Rolls-Royce or Lockheed Martin–Northrop Grumman. The largest aerospace suppliers are United Technologies with $ 28.2 billion of revenue, followed by GE Aviation with $ 24.7 billion, Safran with $ 22.5 billion, Rolls-Royce Holdings with $ 16.9 billion, Honeywell Aerospace with $ 15.2 billion and Rockwell Collins including B/E Aerospace with $ 8.1 billion. Electric aircraft development could generate large changes for
4554-794: The UK, substantive patent law is contained in the Patents Act 1977 as amended. In the United States, the Constitution empowers Congress to make laws to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts ...". The laws Congress passed are codified in Title 35 of the United States Code and created the United States Patent and Trademark Office . There is a trend towards global harmonization of patent laws, with
4653-542: The US, plant breeders' rights are sometimes called plant patents , and utility models and Gebrauchsmuster are sometimes called petty patents or innovation patents . The additional qualification utility patent is sometimes used (primarily in the US) to distinguish the primary meaning from these other types of patents. Particular types of patents for inventions include biological patents , business method patents , chemical patents and software patents . Although there
4752-1085: The United States ( Boeing ), Montreal and Toronto in Canada ( Bombardier , Pratt & Whitney Canada ), Toulouse and Bordeaux in France ( Airbus , Dassault , ATR ), Seville in Spain and Hamburg in Germany ( Airbus ), the North-West of England and Bristol in Britain ( Airbus and AgustaWestland ), Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Irkutsk in Russia ( Sukhoi , Beriev ), Kyiv and Kharkiv in Ukraine ( Antonov ), Nagoya in Japan ( Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Aerospace and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Aerospace ), as well as São José dos Campos in Brazil where Embraer
4851-506: The aerospace suppliers. On 26 November 2018, United Technologies announced the completion of its Rockwell Collins acquisition, renaming systems supplier UTC Aerospace Systems as Collins Aerospace , for $ 23 billion of sales in 2017 and 70,000 employees, and $ 39.0 billion of sales in 2017 combined with engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney . Before the 1980s/1990s, aircraft and aeroengine manufacturers were vertically integrated . Then Douglas aircraft outsourced large aerostructures and
4950-445: The applicant) who might seek patent protection for the invention in those countries. Commonly, a nation or a group of nations forms a patent office with responsibility for operating that nation's patent system, within the relevant patent laws. The patent office generally has responsibility for the grant of patents, with infringement being the remit of national courts. The authority for patent statutes in different countries varies. In
5049-526: The benefits of using each other's patented inventions. Freedom Licenses like the Apache 2.0 License are a hybrid of copyright/trademark/patent license/contract due to the bundling nature of the three intellectual properties in one central license. This can make it difficult to enforce because patent licenses cannot be granted this way under copyright and would have to be considered a contract. In most countries, both natural persons and corporate entities may apply for
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#17328560101225148-402: The bulk of the company's resources towards the growing civil aviation market. It was also during this period that the company was reorganised into a large syndicate , which was named the Società Italiana Caproni, Milano , as a result of having acquired several smaller Italian manufacturers. By the 1930s, the company's main subdivisions comprised Caproni Bergamasca, Caproni Vizzola, Reggiane and
5247-400: The course of the 20th and 21st centuries, however, disparity is still prevalent. In the UK, for example, only 8% of inventors were female as of 2015. This can partly be attributed to historical barriers for women to obtain patents, as well as to the fact that women are underrepresented in traditionally "patent-intensive" sectors, particularly STEM sectors. Marcowitz-Bitton et al. argue that
5346-442: The development of jet propulsion . During the 1930s, Caproni became involved with the Italian aeronautics engineer Secondo Campini , who was engaged in pioneering research in the then-unexplored field of jet propulsion , having proposed adopting a so-called thermo-jet to power an aircraft. Campini had been issued with an initial contract from the Italian government to develop and manufacture his envisioned engine. During 1934,
5445-474: The early 1930s. The aircraft featured a hollow, barrel-shaped fuselage with the engine and propeller completely enclosed by the fuselage, effectively forming a single ducted fan . While unconventional, flight testing found that the approach induced significant aerodynamic drag , cancelling out much of the gains in engine efficiency and reducing the aircraft's top speed to only 131 km/h (81 mph). Some authors have claimed that its design had influenced
5544-433: The early development of Italian aviation. As such, Caproni became one of the most important Allied aircraft manufacturers during the First World War , being responsible for the design and manufacture of large, multi-engine long-range bombers , such as the three-engined Caproni Ca.32 , Ca.33 , Ca.36 and Ca.40 . These aircraft were adopted not only by the Italian military, but by the French as well. Caproni's bombers were
5643-464: The engine manufacturer Isotta Fraschini . Caproni's aircraft activity largely orientated towards the production of bombers and light transport aircraft. Perhaps the most distinctive of Caproni's aircraft was the Caproni Ca.60 Transaereo , an experimental large flying boat designed for the civil sector. At the time, the concept of a large multi-engined flying boat to serve long-distance passenger routes
5742-640: The establishment of an examination system. Between 1790 and 1836 about ten thousand patents were granted. By the American Civil War about 80,000 patents had been granted. In the US, married women were historically precluded from obtaining patents. While section 1 of the Patent Act of 1790 did refer to "she", married women were unable to own property in their own name and were also prohibited from rights to their own income, including income from anything they invented. This historical gender gap has lessened over
5841-437: The first country in the world to perform a jet-powered flight. According to economics author Harrison Mark, Soviet aircraft design bureau TsAGI obtained details on the N.1 programme and were encouraged to pursue work on a similar design; as such, there is a basis for stating that the design of the N.1 influenced subsequent early jet aircraft. The early years of the postwar era was one of considerable hardship for Caproni and
5940-631: The first modern patent system that recognised intellectual property in order to stimulate invention; this was the crucial legal foundation upon which the Industrial Revolution could emerge and flourish. By the 16th century, the English Crown would habitually abuse the granting of letters patent for monopolies . After public outcry, King James I of England (VI of Scotland ) was forced to revoke all existing monopolies and declare that they were only to be used for "projects of new invention". This
6039-604: The foundation for patent law in countries with a common law heritage, including the United States, New Zealand and Australia . In the Thirteen Colonies , inventors could obtain patents through petition to a given colony's legislature. In 1641, Samuel Winslow was granted the first patent in North America by the Massachusetts General Court for a new process for making salt. The modern French patent system
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#17328560101226138-404: The full term, while small companies are more likely to abandon their patents earlier, even though the due fees are ca. 5 times lower for small businesses (microentities). The costs of preparing and filing a patent application, prosecuting it until grant and maintaining the patent vary from one jurisdiction to another, and may also be dependent upon the type and complexity of the invention, and on
6237-510: The gender gap in patents is also a result of internal bias within the patent system. The number of patent applications filed each year has been growing for most countries although not smoothly, and jumps in activity are often observed due to changes in local laws. The high number of patent families for Spain in the 1800s is related to the superior preservation and cataloguing of the data by Spanish Patent and Trademark Office compared to other countries (see 1836 U.S. Patent Office fire ). The US
6336-513: The global aerospace industry and research effort. In Russia , large aerospace companies like Oboronprom and the United Aircraft Corporation (encompassing Mikoyan , Sukhoi , Ilyushin , Tupolev , Yakovlev , and Irkut , which includes Beriev ) are among the major global players in this industry. Important locations of the civil aerospace industry worldwide include Seattle , Wichita, Kansas , Dayton, Ohio and St. Louis in
6435-494: The international phase 3. Examination during the national phase. Alongside these international agreements for patents there was the Patent Law Treaty (PLT). This treaty standardized the filing date requirements, standardized the application and forms, allows for electronic communication and filing, and avoids unintentional loss of rights, and simplifies patent office procedures. Sometimes, nations grant others, other than
6534-415: The invention be exploited in the jurisdiction it covers. Consequences of not working an invention vary from one country to another, ranging from revocation of the patent rights to the awarding of a compulsory license awarded by the courts to a party wishing to exploit a patented invention. The patentee has the opportunity to challenge the revocation or license, but is usually required to provide evidence that
6633-461: The invention. In most countries, patent rights fall under private law and the patent holder must sue someone infringing the patent in order to enforce their rights. The procedure for granting patents, requirements placed on the patentee, and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries according to national laws and international agreements. Typically, however, a patent application must include one or more claims that define
6732-561: The inventor's normal or specifically assigned employment duties, where an invention might reasonably be expected to result from carrying out those duties, or if the inventor had a special obligation to further the interests of the employer's company. Applications by artificial intelligence systems, such as DABUS , have been rejected in the US, the UK, and at the European Patent Office on the grounds they are not natural persons. The inventors, their successors or their assignees become
6831-623: The largest industrial bases in 2017 were the United States with $ 408.4 billion (representing 49% of the whole), followed by France with $ 69 billion (8.2%), then China with $ 61.2 billion (7.3%), the United Kingdom with $ 48.8 billion (5.8%), Germany with $ 46.2 billion (5.5%), Russia with $ 27.1 billion (3.2%), Canada with $ 24 billion (2.9%), Japan with $ 21 billion (2.5%), Spain with $ 14 billion (1.7%) and India with $ 11 billion (1.3%). These ten countries represent $ 731 billion or 87.2% of
6930-437: The licensee the right to make, use, sell, or import the claimed invention, usually in return for a royalty or other compensation. It is common for companies engaged in complex technical fields to enter into multiple license agreements associated with the production of a single product. Moreover, it is equally common for competitors in such fields to license patents to each other under cross-licensing agreements in order to share
7029-644: The most significant aspect of the convention is the provision of the right to claim priority : filing an application in any one member state of the Paris Convention preserves the right for one year to file in any other member state, and receive the benefit of the original filing date. Another key treaty is the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and covering more than 150 countries. The Patent Cooperation Treaty provides
7128-399: The patent application to determine if it meets the patentability requirements of that country. If the application does not comply, objections are communicated to the applicant or their patent agent or attorney through an Office action , to which the applicant may respond. The number of Office actions and responses that may occur vary from country to country, but eventually a final rejection
7227-400: The patent owner seeks monetary compensation ( damages ) for past infringement, and seeks an injunction that prohibits the defendant from engaging in future acts of infringement, or seeks either damages or injunction. To prove infringement, the patent owner must establish that the accused infringer practises all the requirements of at least one of the claims of the patent. (In many jurisdictions
7326-488: The patent owner the right to exploit the invention subject to the patent. For example, many inventions are improvements of prior inventions that may still be covered by someone else's patent. If an inventor obtains a patent on improvements to an existing invention which is still under patent, they can only legally use the improved invention if the patent holder of the original invention gives permission, which they may refuse. Some countries have "working provisions" that require
7425-427: The patent owner will have no legal grounds for enforcing the patent in country B as it was already sold in a different country. Patents can generally only be enforced through civil lawsuits (for example, for a US patent, by an action for patent infringement in a United States federal district court), although some countries (such as France and Austria ) have criminal penalties for wanton infringement. Typically,
7524-537: The patent owner, permissions to create a patented product based on different situations that align with public policy or public interest. These may include compulsory licenses, scientific research, and in transit in country. After two decades of drafting, the WIPO 's Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore moved to a Diplomatic Conference in May 2024 and adopted
7623-562: The patent should never have been granted. There are several grounds for challenges: the claimed subject matter is not patentable subject matter at all; the claimed subject matter was actually not new, or was obvious to the person skilled in the art , at the time the application was filed; or that some kind of fraud was committed during prosecution with regard to listing of inventors, representations about when discoveries were made, etc. Patents can be found to be invalid in whole or in part for any of these reasons. Patent infringement occurs when
7722-679: The permission of the other proprietor(s). The ability to assign ownership rights increases the liquidity of a patent as property. Inventors can obtain patents and then sell them to third parties. The third parties then own the patents and have the same rights to prevent others from exploiting the claimed inventions, as if they had originally made the inventions themselves. The grant and enforcement of patents are governed by national laws, and also by international treaties, where those treaties have been given effect in national laws. Patents are granted by national or regional patent offices, i.e. national or regional administrative authorities. A given patent
7821-655: The procedures under the European Patent Convention (EPC) [constituting the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg)], that centralize some portion of the filing and examination procedure. Similar arrangements exist among the member states of ARIPO and OAPI , the analogous treaties among African countries, and the nine CIS member states that have formed the Eurasian Patent Organization . A key international convention relating to patents
7920-443: The proprietors of the patent when and if it is granted. If a patent is granted to more than one proprietor, the laws of the country in question and any agreement between the proprietors may affect the extent to which each proprietor can exploit the patent. For example, in some countries, each proprietor may freely license or assign their rights in the patent to another person while the law in other countries prohibits such actions without
8019-400: The reasonable requirements of the public have been met by the working of invention. In most jurisdictions, there are ways for third parties to challenge the validity of an allowed or issued patent at the national patent office; these are called opposition proceedings . It is also possible to challenge the validity of a patent in court. In either case, the challenging party tries to prove that
8118-437: The relevant area of technology) to make and use the invention. In some countries there are requirements for providing specific information such as the usefulness of the invention, the best mode of performing the invention known to the inventor, or the technical problem or problems solved by the invention. Drawings illustrating the invention may also be provided. The application also includes one or more claims that define what
8217-461: The relevant country. Although an infringer is generally free to rely on any available ground of invalidity (such as a prior publication , for example), some countries have sanctions to prevent the same validity questions being relitigated. An example is the UK Certificate of contested validity . Patent licensing agreements are contracts in which the patent owner (the licensor) agrees to grant
8316-502: The right granted to anyone who invents something new, useful and non-obvious. A patent is often referred to as a form of intellectual property right, an expression which is also used to refer to trademarks and copyrights , and which has proponents and detractors (see also Intellectual property § The term "intellectual property" ). Some other types of intellectual property rights are also called patents in some jurisdictions: industrial design rights are called design patents in
8415-436: The scope of protection that is being sought. A patent may include many claims, each of which defines a specific property right. Under the World Trade Organization 's (WTO) TRIPS Agreement , patents should be available in WTO member states for any invention, in all fields of technology , provided they are new , involve an inventive step , and are capable of industrial application . Nevertheless, there are variations on what
8514-443: The scope of the patent may not be limited to what is literally stated in the claims, for example due to the doctrine of equivalents .) An accused infringer has the right to challenge the validity of the patent allegedly being infringed in a counterclaim . A patent can be found invalid on grounds described in the relevant patent laws, which vary between countries. Often, the grounds are a subset of requirements for patentability in
8613-411: The second prototype was flown from Milan's Linate Airport to Rome's Guidonia Airport , in a highly publicised event that included a fly-past over Rome and a reception with Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini . According to the historian Nathanial Edwards, the practicality of the N.1 design had been undermined by political pressure to speed the programme along so that Italy would be more likely to be
8712-431: The university's patenting activity plateaued in the 2010s. Incidentally, only 20% of Stanford patents in that dataset produced a positive net income for the university, while the rest was a net loss. Similar declines have been noted not only for the number of patents, but also for other measures of innovation output. Several hypotheses have been proposed as explanations for the observed decline: A patent does not give
8811-459: The whole industry. In 2018, the new commercial aircraft value is projected for $ 270.4 billion while business aircraft will amount for $ 18 billion and civil helicopters for $ 4 billion. In September 2018, PwC ranked aerospace manufacturing attractiveness: the most attractive country was the United States , with $ 240 billion in sales in 2017, due to the sheer size of the industry (#1) and educated workforce (#1), low geopolitical risk (#4, #1
8910-562: The wider Italian aviation industry alike. During 1950, the Società Italiana Caproni ceased to exist. However, one of the company's former divisions, Caproni Vizzola , endured until 1983, at which point it was acquired by the Italian helicopter manufacturer Agusta . From Aircraft manufacturer The aircraft industry is the industry supporting aviation by building aircraft and manufacturing aircraft parts for their maintenance . This includes aircraft and parts used for civil aviation and military aviation . Most production
9009-500: Was bankrupt , Airbus, Boeing or Bombardier declined to take the 728JET /928JET large regional jet program as mainline and regional aircraft manufacturers were split and Airbus was digesting its ill-fated Fokker acquisition a decade earlier. On September 4, 2017, United Technologies acquired Rockwell Collins in cash and stock for $ 23 billion, $ 30 billion including Rockwell Collins' net debt, for $ 500+ million of synergies expected by year four. The Oct. 16, 2017 announcement of
9108-413: Was considered to be radical. However, Caproni believed that such an aircraft could allow the travel to remote areas more quickly than ground or water transport, and that the investment required to develop and manufacturer such an aircraft would be less expensive than pursuing alternative means. During 1919, Caproni filed to patent his work on the concept. His large seaplane design, designated Caproni Ca.60,
9207-466: Was created during the Revolution in 1791. Patents were granted without examination since inventor's right was considered as a natural one. Patent costs were very high (from 500 to 1,500 francs). Importation patents protected new devices coming from foreign countries. The patent law was revised in 1844 – patent cost was lowered and importation patents were abolished. The first Patent Act of
9306-708: Was established in Taliedo by Giovanni Caproni and his wife, Timina Caproni. It is both the oldest aviation museum in Italy, as well as the country's oldest corporate museum. The Caproni Museum has long outlived the Caproni company itself. Caproni continued to maintain its interest in innovative aircraft. One such example was the Stipa-Caproni , also known as the Caproni Stipa , which was designed by Luigi Stipa and built by Caproni during
9405-479: Was highly unorthodox, featuring eight engines and three sets of triple wings. On 12 February or 2 March 1921, the aircraft took off for the first time, proving to be both stable and maneuverable during its brief flight, in spite of a persisting tendency to climb. However, on March 4, the sole completed aircraft was lost while attempting its second flight. During 1927, the Caproni Museum (Italian: Museo Caproni )
9504-594: Was incorporated into the Statute of Monopolies (1624) in which Parliament restricted the Crown's power explicitly so that the King could only issue letters patent to the inventors or introducers of original inventions for a fixed number of years. The Statute became the foundation for later developments in patent law in England and elsewhere. Important developments in patent law emerged during
9603-579: Was responsible for completing the first aircraft of Italian construction in 1911. Its principal manufacturing facilities were based in Taliedo , a peripheral district of Milan , close to Linate Airport , while the firm's Caproni Vizzola division was based in Vizzola Ticino , close to Milan–Malpensa Airport . The firm initially produced a series of small single-engine aircraft, including the Caproni Ca.1 , Ca.6 and Ca.12 ; these became important milestones in
9702-588: Was the World's leader in terms of patent families filed between 1900 and 1966, when Japan took over. Since 2007 PR China leads. However, in most technologically advanced countries (see, for example, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, the UK in the figure on the right, as well as in Poland ), the total (i.e. regardless of the priority/inventors' country) number of patent families filed there have been declining in absolute numbers since c. 1970s –1980s. The decline
9801-422: Was worth $ 838.5 billion in 2017: aircraft & engine OEMs represented 28% ($ 235 Bn), civil & military MRO & upgrades 27% ($ 226 Bn), aircraft systems & component manufacturing 26% ($ 218 Bn), satellites & space 7% ($ 59 Bn), missiles & UAVs 5% ($ 42 Bn) and other activity, including flight simulators , defense electronics, public research accounted for 7% ($ 59 Bn). The Top 10 countries with
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