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Introduction
Robot arms loading an unloading sheets of float glass from a rolling conveyor belt.
Figure 1.1 (credit: modification of work “Float Glass Unloading” by ICAPlants/wikimedia.org, CC BY 3.0)

Chapter Outline

1.1 The Foundations of Patent Protection
1.2 The Weakness of Early Patent Systems
1.3 America’s Uniquely Democratic Patent System
1.4 The Role of the U.S. Legal System
1.5 What the U.S. Patent System Wrought
1.6 Patent-Eligible Inventions
1.7 Criteria for Patenting
1.8 Other Types of Patents
1.9 The Patenting Process

Introduction