Patent-Based Game Components

Abstract

A patent related gaming element is presented. The gaming element can include one or more features representing one or more aspects of patent prosecution. The gaming elements can be leveraged as part of a patent prosecution simulation for educational or entertainment purposes. Example gaming elements can include dice, cards, game boards, or even electronic game features.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A patent-based gaming element comprising:
 a patent prosecution game component having a component feature representative of at least one patent prosecution feature.   
     
     
         2 . The gaming element of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one patent prosecution feature includes a patent claim. 
     
     
         3 . The gaming element of  claim 2 , herein the patent claim comprises a claim element. 
     
     
         4 . The gaming element of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one patent prosecution feature includes a prior art element. 
     
     
         5 . The gaming element of  claim 4 , wherein the prior art elements includes a claim element. 
     
     
         6 . The gaming element of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one patent prosecution feature includes at least one of the following: an assignee, an inventor, an examiner, an art group, an office action, an event, a law, a rule, a citation, a classification, a filing date, a priority date, and a patent figure. 
     
     
         7 . The gaming element of  claim 1 , wherein game component comprises at least one additional component feature representative of a post-prosecution patent feature. 
     
     
         8 . The gaming element of  claim 7 , wherein the post-prosecution patent feature includes at least one of the following: a license, a licensee, a market, a court ruling, a royalty, and a price. 
     
     
         9 . The gaming element of  claim 1 , wherein the game component comprises a game card. 
     
     
         10 . The gaming element of  claim 1 , wherein the game component comprises a die. 
     
     
         11 . The gaming element of  claim 1 , wherein the game component comprises a game board. 
     
     
         12 . The gaming element of  claim 1 , wherein the game component comprises a token. 
     
     
         13 . The gaming element of  claim 1 , wherein the component feature comprises a physical feature. 
     
     
         14 . The gaming element of  claim 1 , wherein the component feature comprises printed indicia. 
     
     
         15 . The gaming element of  claim 1 , wherein the component feature comprises a computer readable memory. 
     
     
         16 . The gaming element of  claim 15 , wherein the computer readable memory is configured to store a patent feature data object representative of the at least one patent feature. 
     
     
         17 . The gaming element of  claim 1 , wherein the game component is a member of a plurality of patent related game components. 
     
     
         18 . The gaming element of  claim 17 , wherein the plurality of patent related game components comprises a distribution of members where the distribution is governed by a multi-level production rarity policy. 
     
     
         19 . The gaming element of  claim 17 , wherein the game component comprise a collectible game component.