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I have just been looking at the patent for the aquaponics farm and wondered does the patent cover all aquaponic type products or only that particular product?

Kind Regards,

Jon

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    Basically they cover whatever the wording of the claims say.
    – George White
    Jun 5, 2014 at 21:10

3 Answers 3

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You can't patent a concept if by concept you mean an idea. The concept has to be applicable in industrial use and it has to be expressed as a product (manufacture) or a process

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This is an older question, but I'm hoping I can provide a better answer. The cited document US20140047767 is an application and not a patent. Applications may never become patents and if they do, claims are often much broader than the resulting patents. In this case, a US patent was granted as US8839742B2. What is covered by a patent is described by the claims. Here is the first claim:

  1. An aquaponics system comprising;

    a tank for housing at least one aquatic animal species;

    a plant growing apparatus for housing one or more plant species growing in an aqueous environment;

    and a biofilter module for receiving a waste stream comprising solid waste and water from the tank, the biofilter module comprising;

    a solids removal means;

    a biological waste digestion unit for digesting solids from the solids removal means to produce plant nutrients, which biological waste digestion unit comprises a biological species that at least partially digests solid waste from said solids removal means to plant nutrients, and further wherein the biological digestion unit comprises a plurality of trays which are able to be rotated such that the trays are actively receiving solids from solids removal means when in a receiving position and not receiving solids from the solids removal means in a non-receiving position; and

    wherein each tray may be opened and closed with a control means such that the solids can be delivered to the trays when in the receiving positions

    whereby in use, said plant nutrients are transferred to the plant growing apparatus and at least a portion of the water is returned to the tank.

To infringe on a patent, you must implement each and every step of at least one claim. So in this case, for instance if you can avoid the biological digestion unit comprising a plurality of trays which are rotated, you most likely avoid infringing on claim one (and every other claim since in this case they are dependent on claim one).

Please be advised that reading an interpreting claims is best done by a patent attorney. Also, just because you might avoid infringing on this patent doesn't mean there aren't other patents that are relevant and need to be avoided. A proper freedom-to-operate opinion from a patent lawyer is the best way to go.

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Like what George said:
Basically they cover whatever the wording of the claims say. so you might want to include the concept in it.

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