ARM 402 EXAMINERS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
SET A+
✔✔Patent Eligibility -✔✔-inventors can apply to each individual country in which they
want a patent or file an international application that covers many countries
-need permission from USPTO to file for a patent in another country or could result in
having to forfeit their US patent protection
-invention must be new, useful, and nonobvious to be considered a patent
-nonobvious means that the invention displays a level of innovation or produces results
that are unexpected when compared with previous developments in that area
-must be nonobvious to someone with ordinary skill in the applicable field, not just to the
layperson
✔✔Patent Application -✔✔-doesn't automatically receive a US patent; must file an
application with the USPTO
-app explains how to make and use the invention and why it is different
-perform search before filing app and the results must be disclosed in the app
-examiner can accept entire app, allow only parts, or reject entire app
-if app is allowed, inventor receives what is called a ribbon copy of the document
bestowing the patent; have to pay regular maintenance fees until patent expires
-if patent is rejected or expired, invention enters the public domain
-app must be filed in inventor's name
✔✔patent duration -✔✔depends on type of patent but always shorter than duration of
copyrights
-utility patent: 20 years from app date; a utility patent's practical life is 17 years because
it takes about 3 years from filing for the patent to be issued
-design patent: 14 years from date of issuance
-plant patent: 17 years from date of issuance
✔✔Risk Control Measures for Patent Loss Exposures -✔✔-patent must be maintained
with periodic payments
-owners must diligently look for infringers and must be diligent in ensuring they do not
infringe either
,-owners must be willing to defend against infringement claims
1. notice: must say pending if pending, must be marked with a patent number when
issued to avoid infringers claiming unintentional infringement
2. licensing agreements: patents are often sold or licensed to others who can
manufacture the invention; agreement should include language that addresses the risk
of liability for infringement claims
3. restrictive covenants: work-for-hire, hire-to-invent, and confidentiality agreements with
employees; should define the IP, require full disclosure of any discoveries, inventions,
improvements, etc. that employee makes during work hours using employer
property/money
-agreements should be used for all new hires with access to IP and current employees if
their position warrants it
4. freedom-to-operate search: orgs need to make sure they don't infringe on other
patents; this is a review of prior art and current patent apps to ensure that an invention
currently under development doesn't infringe on an existing patent
✔✔Trade Secrets -✔✔-good risk control measures can protect a trade secret
indefinitely
-trade secret status is bestowed without a registration process
-when an org takes reasonable steps to ensure the confidentiality of info about the
invention
-a trade secret can be anything that gives its owners an advantage over competitors
and that is treated as a secret
-created automatically - there is no mechanism to officially designate it as a trade secret
-defined under international law based on 3 factors recognized by the WTO: 1. it is
secret from the public; 2. it has economic value to the holder because of it secrecy; 3.
holder is deliberate in its attempt to maintain the secret
✔✔Trade Secret Loss Exposures -✔✔-another entity might honesty recreate an org's
secret invention, process, or method and get it patented: org relying on trade secret
protection alone would lose that protection
-trade secret is stolen or simply disclosed as result of negligence: court decides if its a
trade secret
✔✔Risk Control Measures for Trade Secret Loss Exposures -✔✔measures that can be
used to ensure info confidentiality:
-disclose info only to the employees who need to know the info to perform their jobs
-require sign-in or similar security measure to gain access to area where secret info is
-control any documentation with secret with a confidential stamp or burn bag
-require employees to sign a restrictive covenant
-confidentiality agreements and employment contracts
✔✔system safety -✔✔a safety engineering technique also used as an approach to
accident causation that considers the mutual effects of the interrelated elements of a
system on one another throughout the system's life cycle
, ✔✔Vehicle Fleet systems -✔✔-key element is system safety
-four common features: components, purpose, environment, life cycle
✔✔Fleet Systems Components -✔✔-components pose risks that must be controlled to
maintain fleet safety
1. vehicles
2. vehicle maintenance
3. cargoes
4. routes
5. operators
6. vehicle schedules
✔✔Fleet Systems Purpose -✔✔-primary purpose of a fleet system is to transport cargo
or people; to do this, system should possess these characteristics:
1. reliable: complete all scheduled trips without injury to passengers or cargoes at high
dependability rates
2. safe and well maintained: incurs minimal losses
3. efficient: operations are within acceptable cost parameters
4. environmentally neutral: don't pollute or negatively affect environment
5. lawful: comply with applicable local, state, and federal laws
-increased used of safety measures reduces the frequency and severity of losses that
may damage internal fleet operations or external fleet services an org employs, making
fleets more reliable and efficient
-emphasizing liability risk control ensures that a fleet's operations are legally compliant
✔✔Fleet System Environment -✔✔-physical environments: include highways, weather
conditions, terrain, communities, and other tangible objects and forces that fleet
vehicles encounter when deployed
-legal environment: consists of the laws governing fleet operations; fleet operation
regulations increase the level of fleet safety; fleet vehicles traveling outside the local
area of operations need to comply with other laws which poses a challenge so
managers need to maintain awareness of existing and new laws
-economic environment: economic prosperity: fleet safety measures are more likely to
receive adequate funding; in a downturn, fleet budget allocations may be reduced
caused important steps to be skipped in safety process; labor union strikes and civil
unrest also threaten safe delivery of cargoes
-competitive environment: directly correlates with economic environment; normal
competition, high priority is placed on fleet safety; intense competition, fleet safety
spending may be reduced as a short-term attempt to save money
✔✔Fleet System life cycle -✔✔1. conceptual phase: determining the specific vehicle
type to meet org's requirements
2. engineering phase: selecting types of vehicles, operators, routes, roads, schedules,
and maintenance that satisfy org requirements
3. production phase: procuring vehicles selected in prior phases
4. operational phase: using and maintaining the chosen vehicles
SET A+
✔✔Patent Eligibility -✔✔-inventors can apply to each individual country in which they
want a patent or file an international application that covers many countries
-need permission from USPTO to file for a patent in another country or could result in
having to forfeit their US patent protection
-invention must be new, useful, and nonobvious to be considered a patent
-nonobvious means that the invention displays a level of innovation or produces results
that are unexpected when compared with previous developments in that area
-must be nonobvious to someone with ordinary skill in the applicable field, not just to the
layperson
✔✔Patent Application -✔✔-doesn't automatically receive a US patent; must file an
application with the USPTO
-app explains how to make and use the invention and why it is different
-perform search before filing app and the results must be disclosed in the app
-examiner can accept entire app, allow only parts, or reject entire app
-if app is allowed, inventor receives what is called a ribbon copy of the document
bestowing the patent; have to pay regular maintenance fees until patent expires
-if patent is rejected or expired, invention enters the public domain
-app must be filed in inventor's name
✔✔patent duration -✔✔depends on type of patent but always shorter than duration of
copyrights
-utility patent: 20 years from app date; a utility patent's practical life is 17 years because
it takes about 3 years from filing for the patent to be issued
-design patent: 14 years from date of issuance
-plant patent: 17 years from date of issuance
✔✔Risk Control Measures for Patent Loss Exposures -✔✔-patent must be maintained
with periodic payments
-owners must diligently look for infringers and must be diligent in ensuring they do not
infringe either
,-owners must be willing to defend against infringement claims
1. notice: must say pending if pending, must be marked with a patent number when
issued to avoid infringers claiming unintentional infringement
2. licensing agreements: patents are often sold or licensed to others who can
manufacture the invention; agreement should include language that addresses the risk
of liability for infringement claims
3. restrictive covenants: work-for-hire, hire-to-invent, and confidentiality agreements with
employees; should define the IP, require full disclosure of any discoveries, inventions,
improvements, etc. that employee makes during work hours using employer
property/money
-agreements should be used for all new hires with access to IP and current employees if
their position warrants it
4. freedom-to-operate search: orgs need to make sure they don't infringe on other
patents; this is a review of prior art and current patent apps to ensure that an invention
currently under development doesn't infringe on an existing patent
✔✔Trade Secrets -✔✔-good risk control measures can protect a trade secret
indefinitely
-trade secret status is bestowed without a registration process
-when an org takes reasonable steps to ensure the confidentiality of info about the
invention
-a trade secret can be anything that gives its owners an advantage over competitors
and that is treated as a secret
-created automatically - there is no mechanism to officially designate it as a trade secret
-defined under international law based on 3 factors recognized by the WTO: 1. it is
secret from the public; 2. it has economic value to the holder because of it secrecy; 3.
holder is deliberate in its attempt to maintain the secret
✔✔Trade Secret Loss Exposures -✔✔-another entity might honesty recreate an org's
secret invention, process, or method and get it patented: org relying on trade secret
protection alone would lose that protection
-trade secret is stolen or simply disclosed as result of negligence: court decides if its a
trade secret
✔✔Risk Control Measures for Trade Secret Loss Exposures -✔✔measures that can be
used to ensure info confidentiality:
-disclose info only to the employees who need to know the info to perform their jobs
-require sign-in or similar security measure to gain access to area where secret info is
-control any documentation with secret with a confidential stamp or burn bag
-require employees to sign a restrictive covenant
-confidentiality agreements and employment contracts
✔✔system safety -✔✔a safety engineering technique also used as an approach to
accident causation that considers the mutual effects of the interrelated elements of a
system on one another throughout the system's life cycle
, ✔✔Vehicle Fleet systems -✔✔-key element is system safety
-four common features: components, purpose, environment, life cycle
✔✔Fleet Systems Components -✔✔-components pose risks that must be controlled to
maintain fleet safety
1. vehicles
2. vehicle maintenance
3. cargoes
4. routes
5. operators
6. vehicle schedules
✔✔Fleet Systems Purpose -✔✔-primary purpose of a fleet system is to transport cargo
or people; to do this, system should possess these characteristics:
1. reliable: complete all scheduled trips without injury to passengers or cargoes at high
dependability rates
2. safe and well maintained: incurs minimal losses
3. efficient: operations are within acceptable cost parameters
4. environmentally neutral: don't pollute or negatively affect environment
5. lawful: comply with applicable local, state, and federal laws
-increased used of safety measures reduces the frequency and severity of losses that
may damage internal fleet operations or external fleet services an org employs, making
fleets more reliable and efficient
-emphasizing liability risk control ensures that a fleet's operations are legally compliant
✔✔Fleet System Environment -✔✔-physical environments: include highways, weather
conditions, terrain, communities, and other tangible objects and forces that fleet
vehicles encounter when deployed
-legal environment: consists of the laws governing fleet operations; fleet operation
regulations increase the level of fleet safety; fleet vehicles traveling outside the local
area of operations need to comply with other laws which poses a challenge so
managers need to maintain awareness of existing and new laws
-economic environment: economic prosperity: fleet safety measures are more likely to
receive adequate funding; in a downturn, fleet budget allocations may be reduced
caused important steps to be skipped in safety process; labor union strikes and civil
unrest also threaten safe delivery of cargoes
-competitive environment: directly correlates with economic environment; normal
competition, high priority is placed on fleet safety; intense competition, fleet safety
spending may be reduced as a short-term attempt to save money
✔✔Fleet System life cycle -✔✔1. conceptual phase: determining the specific vehicle
type to meet org's requirements
2. engineering phase: selecting types of vehicles, operators, routes, roads, schedules,
and maintenance that satisfy org requirements
3. production phase: procuring vehicles selected in prior phases
4. operational phase: using and maintaining the chosen vehicles
