Invention Analysis and Claiming presents a comprehensive approach to analyzing inventions and capturing them in a sophisticated set of patent claims. A central theme is the importance of using the problem-solution paradigm to identify the "inventive concept" before the claim-drafting begins. The book's teachings are grounded in "old school" principles of patent practice that, before now, have been learned only on the job from supervisors and mentors.

In this long-awaited sequel to The Invention of Culture, Roy Wagner tackles the logic and motives that underlie cultural invention. Could there be a single, logical factor that makes the invention of the distinction between self and other possible, much as specific human genes allow for language? Wagner explores what he calls "the reciprocity of perspectives" through a journey between Euro-American bodies of knowledge and his in-depth knowledge of Melanesian modes of thought. This logic grounds variants of the subject/object transformation, as Wagner works through examples such as the figure-ground reversal in Gestalt psychology, Lacan's theory of the mirror-stage formation of the Ego, and even the self-recursive structure of the aphorism and the joke. Juxtaposing Wittgenstein's and Leibniz's philosophy with Melanesian social logic, Wagner explores the cosmological dimensions of the ways in which different societies develop models of self and the subject/object distinction. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

Chinese edition of The art of invention:The Creative Process of Discovery and Design by Steven J. Paley. In Traditional Chinese. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.

“This new edition of one of the masterworks of twentieth-century anthropology is more than welcome…enduringly significant insights.”—Marilyn Strathern, emerita, University of Cambridge In the field of anthropology, few books manage to maintain both historical value and contemporary relevance. Roy Wagner's The Invention of Culture, originally published in 1975, is one that does. Wagner breaks new ground by arguing that culture arises from the dialectic between the individual and the social world. Rooting his analysis in the relationships between invention and convention, innovation and control, and meaning and context, he builds a theory that insists on the importance of creativity, placing people-as-inventors at the heart of the process that creates culture. In an elegant twist, he also shows that this very process ultimately produces the discipline of anthropology itself. Tim Ingold’s foreword to the new edition captures the exhilaration of Wagner’s book while showing how the reader can journey through it and arrive safely—though transformed—on the other side.

Invention and patents continues to be an important issue in technology and our global economy. Invention and Patenting provides a clear picture of how to be a prolific inventor, to understand patents, and the patent process. It provides an illuminating insight into the writing of invention disclosures to patents from the submission process to final drafts. The book shows how to communicate effectively with patent lawyers and patent examiners, teaching the language of “legalese.” This book is unique in covering both the early invention process to final patent drafting to provide high quality patents in technologies. Key features include: How to become an inventor, how to invent, to what is invention; How to write an invention disclosure to writing a patent; Examples of utility, design, and plant patents; How to prepare the background section, brief listing of figures, detailed description of the invention, claims, abstract to artwork; Using patent search engines; Writing independent and dependent claims; Analyzing office actions of the US and European patent offices; How to write an office action response and amending claims; and, Examples of Office Action responses, preliminary amendments, to notice of allowance response; Invention and Patenting is the first book by an engineer and inventor from a technologist’s point of view. It is an essential reference for engineers and inventors. It is also useful for graduate and undergraduate students in technology and the sciences.