Business Group
Question:
hfoste01
Student
College - Senior
Answers:
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Posted by blazedale on Thursday May 22, 2008 at 4:30 PM
According to the source below, someone tried to patent a pencil with an eraser (actually inside the pencil) and was successful-- however the pencil maker Faber took the patent all the way to the Supreme Court and won.
This all happened way back in the 1850's, so it seems safe that pencils with erasers are not patented. If your pencil has some sort of other specific innovation besides the basic pencil design, you would have to look into specific pencil-related patents.
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Posted by santari on Friday May 23, 2008 at 10:36 AM
I don't think you would have any legal issue to worry about. The Constitution only secures legal protections on patents for a limited time, currently 20 years.
The idea of attaching an eraser to a pencil is traced to Hyman W. Lipman, an American whose 1858 U.S. patent was bought by Joseph Rechendorfer in 1872 for a reported $100,000. That patent would have expired long ago.
You would want to make sure, however, that any logo or design that you place on the pencils do not infringe any other pencil makers copyrights. A patent covers inventions and discoveries, but copyright law covers original works of authorship, which can include things like a logo placed on a pencil.
As an aside, the pencil is a fascinating invention. My research on eNotes traces it all the way back to pre-historic times when chalky rocks and charred sticks were used to draw on surfaces as varied as animal hides and cave walls.
Good luck!
