What is a patent ?
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Plant patents are granted for inventing or discovering and asexually reproducing any distinct and new variety of plant . The type of patent determines how long the patent right lasts . Utility and plant patents have a term for up to 20 years from the date the patent was filed while design patents are granted for a term of 15 years from the date the patent is granted .
Unlike other types of intellectual property , where rights attach upon creation and / or use , patent rights only occur after an inventor has filed a patent and the patent has been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office . For a patent to be issued , the invention must meet four requirements : ( 1 ) it must be able to be used ( the invention must work and cannot be just a theory ), ( 2 ) the inventor must provide a clear description of how to make and use the invention , ( 3 ) the invention must be new or novel ( something that has not been done before ), and ( 4 ) the invention must not be obvious .
Bob Fitch , photography
Mountain View Oral History Project
Ron Dellums California 1970 by Robert Cox Last year , Andrei Genzel , a local Mountain View high school student , came across an oral history of Oakland mayor Ron Dellums . Andrei was fascinated by how raw and unfiltered the report was . It inspired him to collect info for an oral history of Mountain View in honor of the 170th anniversary of the naming of Mountain View .
Andrei ’ s goal was to interview a diverse group of people representative of our community , each of whom had lived at least twenty years in Mountain View . The interviewees would share their perspectives on how Mountain View had evolved during their time here . Each interview would take about 90 minutes and would be recorded either at Andrei ’ s home or the home of the interviewee .
Andrei is a native of Mountain View . When he started his oral history project , he thought , “ Surely there can ’ t be too much going on here !” But once he started the interviews , he discovered a real
Mountain View community , where residents found various ways to get involved . He noted that while the city ’ s infrastructure grew one building at a time , it was much easier for people to look back and evaluate what had happened in retrospect , than it was to see what Mountain View would become . He also saw that those interviewed had differing perspectives on what changes were good and bad . For example , some embraced the vibrancy and density , while others bemoaned the crowding and traffic congestion .
At first , Andrei ’ s interview questions were spontaneous and off-the-cuff . But over time , he developed a formal list of questions . reasoning that this would make it easier for people listening to the interviews to compare and contrast the interviewee ’ s experiences .
Andrei concluded the interview process at the end of 2024 . He will make the recorded interviews available to the Mountain View Historical Association . He plans to enroll as a college history major in the fall .
We thank Andrei for his efforts to record Mountain View ’ s history and wish him luck in his future endeavors !
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The MVHA welcomes new members ! You can also join / renew online at www . mountainviewhistorical . org .
The MVHA is a tax-exempt organization under Internal Revenue Code Section 501 ( c )( 3 ), Tax ID 94-6115407 . Membership is tax deductible to the extent permitted by law .
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