This week our focus in class were patents. Now, you may be wondering what are patents? Well a patent is basically a property right. A patent gives the owner the right (for a limited time that is) to not let others sell their product. In order to patent an original creation it must be new, useful and obvious.
The objective of our project is to create a tangible object that will solve a problem affecting many people like our comfort chair! School chairs are uncomfortable and many students struggle with focusing in class due to the discomfort, so we have decided to create a new school chair that students all around the world will be able to use and enjoy. But like always there’s a “but” to everything. We are not the first people to think up of this idea so there are probably a few or a lot comfort chairs out in the world that have been created and patented. So now what?
Well with the help of Prior Art which is information available to the public in a printed publication format according to the YouTube channel Patent Invention Ideas we were able to research comfort chairs that have been patented. Now, where do we find these patented creations?
Well, Ms. Meisner and Ms. Jo provided two webpages that allow us to search patents and they are called US Patent and Trademark Office Information and Google Patent Search. We were also provided a handout with three sections that allowed us to record our findings on the patent search engines.
Although there are existing comfort chairs out there in the world, that’s not stopping Comfort4U from creating the best, most comfortable school chair there ever lived. If anything the patent research stimulated our minds and sparked new ideas to improve our design ideas for the ideal school chair. I personally can say that I have seen some amazing designs that I wish to share with my group. All in all, the patent research has been a success and it was fun as well as educational seeing what other people have to offer.
StarPathDesign 
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