Imagine: you arrive at the pumpkin patch and see the perfectly shaped, perfectly orange pumpkin for which you’ve been searching. Envisioning the amazing jack-o-lantern you’ll create from this perfection, you snatch it from among the vines – only to find the bottom soft and mushy from mildew!
There may not be many ways in which a patent is like a pumpkin, but the presence of a hidden defect is one. After your patent application finally issues as a patent, surviving rigorous (and expensive) examination, you may unexpectedly discover your patent has a giant soft spot as a result of government funding. How can the grant of government funding be the mildew on your patent pumpkin?
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