Here is a question that a panel of judges decided: Can a company patent how it makes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? More specifically, in this instance, judges considered whether J. M. Smucker’s method of making Un-crustables—which is a crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwich sealed inside soft bread—is worthy of legal protection from imitators. While the nature of this case is interesting, the legal rulings resulting from the case have broader implications. At stake is how generous the patent office should be in awarding patents—an issue with solid arguments on both sides......

Discussion Questions:

1.Go to the USPTO’s website (www.uspto.gov) to look up Patent No. 6,004,596. Read the patent. After reading the patent, are you more inclined or less inclined to side with Smucker’s point of view?
2.Type “Un-crustables” into the Google search engine and look at the Un-crustables sandwich. Spend a little time reading about Un-crustables on the Smucker’s website. Again, after looking over the website, are you more inclined or less inclined to side with Smucker’s point of view?
3.Given the arguments espoused by the “critics” and the “advocates” of the U.S. patent system, with which of the points of view do you agree? Thinking as an entrepreneur, use your own words to say why you think the critics or the advocates have a stronger point of view.
4.After using a search engine to discover how the court ruled, why do you think the court ruled as it did? Use materials in the chapter to explain and justify your thinking.