Happy Fourth of July!

Nonobvious is off this week for Independence Day. Have a great week with your family!

To celebrate Independence Day, let’s look at a patent, specifically US 2,063,601 A, which was filed in 1934 and granted in 1936. That patent is for the sparkler, which is today used across celebrations.

Sparklers were invented by August Hummel. Although sparklers existed before, they were not flexible like Hummel’s invention; they also would often deteriorate while in storage, rendering them useless as a widespread commercial product. Thanks to Hummel, we now have handheld sparklers. Wonderful!

Weekly Novelties

Although there is not much news this week, I do want to point your attention to the newest DABUS decision last week, this time in Germany (here is an article in Juve). The court held that while DABUS could not be an inventor, the person who directed DABUS could be.

AI is only becoming more important to the inventing process. There will need to be more work to address how patent inventorship should reflect this change in the scientific process.