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
Beacon Hill (TV series) Beacon Hill (TV series) Beacon Hill is a prime time drama series shown on CBS in 1975. Set after World War I in Boston's fashionable Beacon Hill area, the show focused on the wealthy Lassiter family in contrast to their Irish immigrant servants, who reside together on Louisburg Square. It was considered to be an Americanized version of the popular British series "Upstairs, Downstairs" (1971–1975), which shared the same premise. It was produced by Jacqueline Babbin and Beryl Vertue, the latter of whom was a former literary agent of Jean Marsh who had been instrumental in getting "Upstairs, Downstairs" on