Law Commons^™

Invalidated Patents And Associated Patent Examiners, Shine Tu

Law Faculty Scholarship

This study attempts to determine whether there are common

characteristics between examiners who issue invalidated patents. This

study uses two new patent databases that code for nearly 1.7 million

patents and approximately one thousand patents that were litigated to

a 'final" judgment between 2010 and 2011. This study finds that

approximately one-third of patents that are litigated to final judgment

are found invalid. Most invalidated patents are found in technology

centers 1600, 2600, and 2700, which correspond to biotechnology and

organic chemistry, communications, and computer science, respectively.

Most patents are invalidated on prior art-type novelty and obviousness

grounds. This study …

Integration Of Information Literacy Skills To Mechanical Engineering Capstone Projects, Farshid Zabihian, Mary L. Strife, Marian G. Armour-Gemmen

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Searching for information and using that information appropriately is an essential part of every engineering design project. It has been reported that design engineers spend about 30% of their time searching for information. Experience shows that even senior level students have not received proper training, either directly or indirectly, in information literacy (IL). They usually search for information intuitively. For mechanical and aerospace engineering students at West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech), the Mechanical Engineering System Design I and II courses (MAE 480 and 481) are probably the last chance to teach students about IL. In this project, …

Keeping The Lights On During Superstorm Sandy: Climate Change And Adaptation And The Resiliency Benefits Of Distributed Generation, James M. Van Nostrand

Law Faculty Scholarship

Hurricane Sandy (ultimately downgraded to "Superstorm" Sandy by the time it hit the coasts of New York and New Jersey in late October 2012) was the most lethal and destructive hurricane in 2012, resulting in 285 deaths, $68 billion in damages, and 8.5 million utility customers in the eastern United States losing power. Superstorm Sandy provided a wake-up call for electric utilities on the need to adopt a different set of long-term planning tools to improve the resilience of the electric system against anticipated extreme weather events. The experience of Superstorm Sandy provides a case study of the system resiliency …