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This patent has, as part of its content about projective geometry, text and diagrams copied from my web site http://www.nct.anth.org.uk/ without permission or acknowledgement. Is that ethical in a patent application?

Matthew Haugen
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N C Thomas
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    Can you please specify which patent it is? – Elin Mar 31 '14 at 13:07
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    Plagiarizing is only an academic offense, it would be copyright violation that would potentially matter. A patent application containing copyright material without permission would not affect patentability unless it showed the inventor wasn't actually the inventor. – George White Apr 01 '14 at 16:29
  • I suspect that fair use could be claimed for material copied into a patent application, because no rights are claimed in the work under copyright except for the clear exceptions in MPEP 608. – Louis Iselin Nov 18 '14 at 22:31
  • Related to: http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/12449/has-anyone-used-copyright-infringement-in-the-application-as-grounds-to-block – arober11 Mar 24 '15 at 14:03
  • Related: http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/44/are-text-and-images-in-the-patent-copyrighted?lq=1 – arober11 Mar 24 '15 at 14:05

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It is common in patent applications to describe the "background art". Proper attribution should be made.

Mark Nowotarski
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