Intellectual Property Law

US Patent 7449432 - Carbon nanomaterial gear oil

This patent teaches using carbon nanotubes as a viscosity modifier for gear oil. Claim 1 reads:

1. A fluid composition comprising base oil, an oil soluble additive containing nanomaterials selected from the group consisting of carbon nanoplates formed by wet milling of bulk graphitic material, carbon nanotubes having a length of 50 nanometers to 100 microns, and mixtures thereof.

The claim actually appears anticipated by Moy et al. US 6,828,282 (column 4, lines 24-27). However looking at the prosecution history there appears to be an Examiner's amendment improperly entered that may have inadvertedly deleted claim limitations entered on 3/25/2008.

Full post as published by TinytechIP on November 16, 2008 (boomark / email).