Patent pending an offense, which permits theoretical damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars for high-volume consumer goods. The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act revised section 292 to say that only the United States may sue for that penalty but that a person who has suffered a competitive injury may sue for recovery of damages adequate to compensate for the injury. A provisional application, like any other patent application, also allows the applicant to use the term "patent pending". Numerous characters have assumed the name Pat Pending since at least the 1960s, notably Professor Pat Pending of cartoon series Wacky Races; the
Pat Pending After his death in 1973, Don's son Mel inherited the boat, and she is still owned and used by the Owen family today. The boat currently resides at the San Francisco Yacht Club, and is taken up to Sacrament-San Joaquin River Delta for recreational cruising during the summer. In June 1997, "Pat Pending" was found sinking at her bow, at her berth in Belvedere. Before she could sink all the way to the bottom of the Bay, she was towed to Sausalito and hauled out of the water, clearly needing major repairs. The repairs and remodeling of "Pat Pending" took