Sentences with phrase «mere scintilla»

Significantly the Federal Court of Appeal emphasized: (1) only if an inventor makes «an explicit promise of a specific result, then utility will be assessed by reference to the terms of the explicit promise»; (2) as there is no obligation to disclose utility in a patent, one can not assume every patent has an explicit promise; and (3) where there is no explicit promise, a «mere scintilla» of utility will suffice.

Before this, the general sense was that a mere scintilla of utility was enough to obtain a patent.

Let's place aside the thought that, since being a footballer apparently empowers the world to hurl abuse your way on the slightest suggestion of the merest scintilla of the tiniest fraction of provocation, perhaps it's not that «lucky» a way to live your life after all.

None of the people involved in this scam deserve the merest scintilla of respect.