GPS Patents and Their Effects on Our Future and Rights

GPS Patents and Their Effects on Our Future and Rights

Chloe S. Margulis (University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, MN, USA) and Brian J. Galli (Assistant Professor and Graduate Program Director, Master of Science in Engineering Management Industrial Engineering, Hofstra University, USA)
Copyright: © 2018 |Pages: 13
DOI: 10.4018/IJSSMET.2018010105

Abstract

The interest in GPS technology has led to the filing of many GPS patents. Although not all the filed patents result in the production of final products, there has been a rise in the question of GPS Technology and its ethical values in relation to privacy, rights, and government surveillance. Aside from covering the above issue, this paper will also discuss the branching of from GPS technology, development, and ethical implications to GIS mapping and RFID tagging in modern society. The main dilemma addressed will focus on the legality of taking people's locations in patented applications, devices, and programs, and using them for various needs, whether the user is aware or unaware of this. Will this be considered an infringement on personal rights and liberties, specifically pertaining to the Fourth Amendment?
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Gps Patenting

At first, individuals exploring business ideas that implemented GPS filed for technological patents that did not list GPS as the primary focus for the new technology. These patents typically fit into one of two categories: Class 342 and Class 701. Both classes contain projects of different scopes: “Class 342 is titled Communications [for] Directive Radio Wave Systems and Devices, and Class 701 is titled Data Processing [for] Vehicles, Navigation, and Relative Location” (Yu & Kehoe, 2003). Most patents filed for GPS technology will fall under the category of Class 701, because they focus on the most basic concepts of GPS: navigation in vehicles. Now, as GPS has become so prevalent in everyday use, GPS patents have been filed for almost anything, thus creating less distinction between these two GPS patent categories.

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