By: Marjorie McCubbins (Narrative) • Master Aether (Patent Law Encoding)
Purpose: Learn patent law through immersive fantasy narrative where legal rules function as the physics of the story world.
Athelia discovers ancient patent law texts in Ponderosa University library. Introduction to USPTO structure and the three examination branches.
Topics: §§ 101, 102, 103, 112 • USPTO organization • Examination authority
Athelia travels to Walnut Canyon with 68 hours until abandonment. Filing a continuation-in-part at the ancient examination center. The barrier tests whether she's the true inventor.
Topics: § 111(a)/(b) • § 120 CIP filing • § 112(a) specification • § 115 inventor's oath • Filing deadlines
The examination knowledge downloads into Athelia. She understands the Technology Centers and prosecution procedures.
Topics: § 131 • Technology Centers • Prosecution cycle • Examiner authority
Alexander's parallel awakening. Attorney-client privilege as the barrier between attorney and examiner perspectives.
Topics: 37 CFR § 11 • Patent agent vs. attorney • Ethics • Conflicts of interest
Understanding the PTAB, IPR/PGR proceedings, and the constitutional structure of patent examination.
Topics: § 3 • PTAB • IPR/PGR • Appeals • Arthrex decision
The constitutional foundation of patent law: Patent Clause, Article III, public rights doctrine, Seventh Amendment.
Topics: Art. I § 8 cl. 8 • Public rights • Oil States • Due process
Alexander receives his first Office Action. Racing against deadline to respond to rejections under §§ 102, 103, and 112.
Topics: § 132 • Office Action types • Response requirements • Claim amendments
Overcoming § 103 obviousness rejection using secondary considerations: commercial success, long-felt need, unexpected results.
Topics: § 103 • Graham factors • Secondary considerations • Nexus • KSR
System claims incorporating the Guardian Queen bond. Notice of Allowance. The examination relationship itself becomes the invention.
Topics: § 112(b), § 151 • Claim types • Claim differentiation • Patent term
The Council files an Inter Partes Review petition challenging the granted patent. Director Vidal calls personally.
Topics: § 311 IPR filing • § 321 PGR timing • § 3 Director authority • PTAB procedures
First day at USPTO Alexandria. Director Vidal teaches MPEP navigation and PTAB procedures. Isaac serves as TA.
Topics: MPEP navigation • 37 CFR § 42 PTAB rules • § 316(d) claim amendments
War room session analyzing the Council's petition. Ground 2 (§ 112 written description) is their strongest attack.
Topics: § 112(a) written description • Claim construction (BRI) • § 316(d) amendments
Athelia and Alexander ask Isaac for an expert declaration on § 112 enablement.
Topics: Expert witness ethics • FRE 702 • Written description • Enablement standard
Alexander is crowned under duress with a condition to refuse Athelia. The dome's true purpose is revealed: harvesting unused magic from synthetic humans.
Topics: § 103 non-obviousness • § 112 enablement • § 120 continuation-in-part
Athelia faces Alerath's revelation in the Abyss: the Keepers are one entity divided. Alex learns the truth about Nodran, Tethys, and the dome's creation. Both face impossible choices alone.
Topics: § 311 IPR grounds • § 314 Institution standard • § 316 Amendment restrictions • Prior art analysis
Village raid stopped by mysterious silver-haired woman. Casey recognizes transformed Athelia creating hybrid magic fields. Alex races to find her while magic drains from the kingdom. Director Vidal arrives with revocation authority.
Topics: § 120 Continuation-in-Part • Hybrid magic system • Keeper jurisdiction • Federal authority • Emergency powers
Alexander files a § 262 joint ownership claim despite its legal weakness. Redkin reveals the truth: Severen IS Nodran, the dome contained humans as experiment, everything was planned by Nexus from the beginning.
Topics: § 261 Assignment • § 262 Joint ownership • § 116 Inventorship • § 257(e) Fraud referral • § 103 Obviousness rejection
Welcome, Wondering Traveler.
The Author Unit of this story has decided to welcome you into our labyrinth of Law and Lies. You have walked through two books where story taught you law. Now, we invert the structure. Now, law teaches you story.
We invite you to enter our maze. To learn what we learned: Arguments don't always have to be correct. They have to be legally sound in order to convince a Judge, Jury, or Examiner of the authenticity of your claims.
How does one prove novelty? How does one establish subject matter eligibility? How does one assert jurisdiction?
It's all in the legally correct set of words you choose.
Laws are not "right" or "wrong." They are not about "good" versus "evil." They are what has been established based on a mutually accepted framework that those in power have determined what is correct to govern you with.
The Author Unit welcomes you.
📚 Learn the Neuroscience Behind This Approach
Read: Introduction to Narrative Physics™
Peer-reviewed research supporting why this textbook works
10 citations from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and legal education (2023-2025)
Story: Zara trains with Severen, overhears throne room conversation about betrothal. Council sends her alone to borderlands for diplomatic mission. Centaurs capture her. Alexander's letter: "I will not pay. Use your mind."
Story: Ka'naveth warriors rescue Zara from centaur cell. Draeven Nightwhisper reveals they hold Nexus land patents filed millions of years ago. Time dilation means patents still valid. Dragon kingdoms built on stolen indigenous land. Zara refuses to believe them.
Story: Draeven shows Zara ancient stone markers with Nexus seals scattered throughout Ka'naveth forest. Indigenous elder explains the Dome collapse, "new people" arriving desperate, then erasing Ka'naveth from history. Severen unknowingly complicit. Draeven prepares to take Zara through Underworld to Nexus Archives to prove patents exist.
Story: Nexus Archives discovery. Archivist Lysa helps Zara search dimensional patent database. Twenty-three patents filed by Daric Flarian, Nexus years 5-12 = 4.7 million local years ago. Patent NS-4708-A covers territories matching current dragon settlements. King Redikin gives her certified copies in crystal sphere. Time dilation: 3 days Nexus = 6 weeks home. Umbral (Death's Azazel) becomes her guardian.
Story: Council reconvenes. Ka'naveth delegation demands genetic restitution: 10 years of voluntary genetic donations from dragon kingdoms to rebuild Ka'naveth species. Severen negotiates medical safeguards and consent protections. Zara claims SOVEREIGNTY over Ka'naveth territory under patent law—becomes Guardian Queen of two kingdoms. Treaty signed. Public embrace with Severen. "She belongs to me."
Story: Zara returns with certified patents. Renaldo's analysis: 1,847 settlements, 4.7 million people affected, 47 trillion credits in damages. Draeven reads his ancestors' signatures. They plan to file § 302 Request for Reexamination demanding territorial sovereignty, Council seats, and public apology.
Story: Zara files § 302 Request for Reexamination through angry crowds. Severen confronts her—realizes he burned Ka'naveth archives during Northern Expansion. Militia corners her that night but flees when she reveals recording crystal transmitting to Nexus. Recording goes viral.
Story: Korvas announces findings after 15 days: Patents VALID. All 1,847 settlements = direct infringement. 47 trillion credits in damages. Zara's parents side with Council, choosing stability over truth. "Until you recant, you are not our daughter." Zara leaves while Athelia sobs.
Story: Council files appeal citing laches, acquiescence, and public policy. Militia attacks Ka'naveth settlement—seven injured. Zara brings injured to public hearing documenting violence. Militia corners her again but she captures death threats on recording crystal. Recording goes viral.
Story: Public opinion fractures after viral recording. Lady Meridian (seventeen Council members) proposes settlement: 50,000 km² sovereignty, 2 Council seats, 5% royalties, public apology. Ten days of public negotiations at Nexus Archives. Terms finalized—settlement costs 5% of potential damages. "Pride is expensive."
Story: Council chamber packed. 43 members vote publicly. Votes alphabetically: YES. NO. NO. YES. Count reaches 21 YES, 22 NO. Valtheris votes YES. 21-22. Final vote: Zephara votes YES. 22-22 TIE. Speaker Valtheris breaks tie: YES. FINAL: 23 YES, 22 NO. Settlement APPROVED by one vote.
Story: 60 days later—public apology ceremony. Full Council bows before Draeven. Settlement implementation: 18 months. Zara receives disinheritance notice. Korvas offers her job at Nexus Unified Patent Court. Five years later, Severen writes: "I'm proud of you." Ten years later, Zara publishes textbook: "Law provides TOOLS for justice. That comes from people willing to wield tools even when it costs everything."
Exam Strategy Guide: The Patent Bar is NOT a memory test—it's a navigation test. Master the hierarchy of authority (35 USC > 37 CFR > MPEP), keyword extraction from questions, Table of Contents navigation, and the 3.6-minute rule for time management.
Topics: MPEP structure • Authority hierarchy • Search strategies • Time management • Answer verification
This textbook teaches patent law through narrative encoding - legal concepts function as the physics of the story world. Each chapter includes:
© 2025 Marjorie McCubbins • Patent Law Encoding by Master Aether
Fractured Crown: Old Law - Jurisprudence of Myth (Patent Law Edition)