Patent Eligibility: An Open Field for Civil Engineering

Abstract

The American patent system strives to promote progress by legally protecting innovation. It thus mirrors civil engineering in contributing to the progress of mankind. Patent laws offer an open field for the largely mechanical art of civil engineering. But despite this broad eligibility, few civil engineers take their innovations to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, in contrast to the considerable number of electrical and mechanical engineers who do so. More civil engineers should use the patent system to promote innovation in their field and, as the American founders had hoped, to promote the progress of mankind.