My parents dug up an Amstrad PC1512 while tidying their house and called me up asking me what to do with it. I said throw it away. They said isn't it worth something? I laughed.
There is no concept in any patent law be it US or EU that would allow a claim to an integer by itself of the form "Claim 1, the integer 1009". I don't really see the point of his argument by saying that.
"Greetings friend, this is Homer Simpson, aka, Happy Dude. The courts have ordered me to call everyone, and apologize for my telemarketing scam...I'm sorry. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, send $1 to Sorry Dude, 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield. You have the power!"
There is a huge misconception that patents are hugely expensive. The actual fees are relatively low for the initial filings and many are half price for small entities such as single inventors.
What is expensive is lawyers fees. But you don't necessarily need a lawyer, though many patent agents will offer no or low fee initial consultations or give your application a read through for a minimal amount. There are plenty of good books out there that can guide you through the process of making a provisional application. The most important thing is to include every single last tiniest detail in that first filing.
Once you have that, you are on a much more solid ground to go round to other people who can provide funding to take it to the next stage. And if you get to the initial application publication stage, it will be published for all to see (for all values of all that most importantly include patent examiners).
But make sure you look up the whole file wrapper on PAIR to put everything in context. Also in particular take a look at the long listed of cited references and how they are used in the examiners reports.
For a start your anti gravity patent wouldn't get granted because you haven't reduced it to practice. In simple terms this means you haven't worked out all the details and written them down.
But just suppose you knew of a new material that made your thing work. You can make it in teeny tiny amounts on your kitchen table. But you need a big pile of cash, time, a large lab and a team of research scientists to take that kitchen table process and scale it up.
You could go round to some banks (ha!) or maybe a venture capitalist or some bored millionaire asking for help. But they all turn you away because under your system, you can't get patent protection until you have a product. So they all walk away because the risk is too great.
There are many inventions like this that are filed for by people who don't have the means to commercialize or even build a single prototype. For them, patents offer a valuable thing they can get that has value to investors.
Technically it was the crocodile's beach first. Perhaps we should consider strapping magnets to the heads of surfers and relocating them to your pool instead.
As I recall, cats in New York city are officially classified as wild animals as they can't be trained or something. Therefore one could argue that cats are not in fact property.
I've seen a couple of cops on segways in an outside environment that makes me think a bicycle would be a better option.
My main beef with them is that you are no longer talking at eye level. They are raised up above you. The cop doesn't step off the thing to talk to you, they talk down at you then trundle off.
Agreed, just give it time and it will expand. The thing I like about Hulu is that is truly backed by the content providers, thus showing them directly how well it is working. Plus they actually have less commercials than watching on cable.
Take iTunes as an equivalent example. It started with a US site then expanded to include UK, Europe, Australia etc., but only once it had the licenses to distribute the content in those countries.
Loosely translated means they filed the paperwork online and the whole thing was accepted automatically. So if anything, it was Amazon being Ebenezer making its lawyers work Xmas eve, the USPTO didn't have to do anything.
It's like high end Hi-Fi equipment you have to let the browser window burn in before you can get that richer and warmer internet experience. I always leave my browser to burn in overnight the first time I install it and find pages load quicker when I use oxygen free unidirectional tubes.
The problem with all these services and all discussions about patents on slashdot is that finding prior art is not as easy as it looks. Amongst other things it has to be published, it has to be published at the right time and here is the bit where most prior art falls down it has to be enabling.
To be enabling, the prior art has to teach the same feature/ method/ process/ or whatever as stated in the claims and in light of the description. It is no good looking at the title and making assumptions about how the application does it and then saying you did it years ago.
So while documenting how Linux does stuff is useful, it does not guarantee anything.
Exactly, Bilski doesn't suddenly invalidate thousands of previously granted patents. Any patent already examined and granted can still at this point be assumed to be valid until tested either in a court of law or by re-examination.
What may happen (though I doubt it) is that when renewal fees come due, Microsoft (or whoever) might think twice about paying them all automatically.
Why would you want to opt out of the NHS?
Remember the NHS is there for all at any time. So if you are in a traffic accident and have to be rushed to A&E (the emergency room) you will not receive a bill from the ambulance company, you will not have nurses going through your wallet looking for an insurance card before they treat you, you will not get a bill from the hospital because your insurance company didn't "pre approve" your life saving treatment...
Slashdot Mirror
My parents dug up an Amstrad PC1512 while tidying their house and called me up asking me what to do with it. I said throw it away. They said isn't it worth something? I laughed.
His logic isn't very good in my opinion.
There is no concept in any patent law be it US or EU that would allow a claim to an integer by itself of the form "Claim 1, the integer 1009". I don't really see the point of his argument by saying that.
Is this a sign that the Twitter Shark has been jumped?
"Greetings friend, this is Homer Simpson, aka, Happy Dude. The courts have ordered me to call everyone, and apologize for my telemarketing scam...I'm sorry. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, send $1 to Sorry Dude, 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield. You have the power!"
Did anyone else notice the 2005 date on the press release?
As far as I can tell, no patents have been granted from WO2004/003697 which seems to be the most likely application in question.
Or the US anti ballistic missile system is a lot better than we were led to believe!!!
Failed? Or shot down by lasers on sharks!!!
This!
There is a huge misconception that patents are hugely expensive. The actual fees are relatively low for the initial filings and many are half price for small entities such as single inventors.
What is expensive is lawyers fees. But you don't necessarily need a lawyer, though many patent agents will offer no or low fee initial consultations or give your application a read through for a minimal amount. There are plenty of good books out there that can guide you through the process of making a provisional application. The most important thing is to include every single last tiniest detail in that first filing.
Once you have that, you are on a much more solid ground to go round to other people who can provide funding to take it to the next stage. And if you get to the initial application publication stage, it will be published for all to see (for all values of all that most importantly include patent examiners).
Granted patent numbers still are in the 7 figure range, I think we're around 7,500,000 ish.
Patent applications have a different numbering system that has the application year as a prefix. This new system only started around 2001.
Why don't you then?
US2007/0201702
But make sure you look up the whole file wrapper on PAIR to put everything in context. Also in particular take a look at the long listed of cited references and how they are used in the examiners reports.
http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/pair
You do know there is a braille edition of Playboy.
For a start your anti gravity patent wouldn't get granted because you haven't reduced it to practice. In simple terms this means you haven't worked out all the details and written them down.
But just suppose you knew of a new material that made your thing work. You can make it in teeny tiny amounts on your kitchen table. But you need a big pile of cash, time, a large lab and a team of research scientists to take that kitchen table process and scale it up.
You could go round to some banks (ha!) or maybe a venture capitalist or some bored millionaire asking for help. But they all turn you away because under your system, you can't get patent protection until you have a product. So they all walk away because the risk is too great.
There are many inventions like this that are filed for by people who don't have the means to commercialize or even build a single prototype. For them, patents offer a valuable thing they can get that has value to investors.
Technically it was the crocodile's beach first. Perhaps we should consider strapping magnets to the heads of surfers and relocating them to your pool instead.
Perhaps Hulu is considering a channel on Roku and sees other similar things as a threat to this model.
As I recall, cats in New York city are officially classified as wild animals as they can't be trained or something. Therefore one could argue that cats are not in fact property.
I've seen a couple of cops on segways in an outside environment that makes me think a bicycle would be a better option.
My main beef with them is that you are no longer talking at eye level. They are raised up above you. The cop doesn't step off the thing to talk to you, they talk down at you then trundle off.
Agreed, just give it time and it will expand. The thing I like about Hulu is that is truly backed by the content providers, thus showing them directly how well it is working. Plus they actually have less commercials than watching on cable.
Take iTunes as an equivalent example. It started with a US site then expanded to include UK, Europe, Australia etc., but only once it had the licenses to distribute the content in those countries.
You miss the point though.
If you really really need something that matches a gasoline car for a particular purpose like a ski trip to Tahoe, hire a car for the weekend.
For Mr and Mrs Smith going shopping or commuting, a short range electric car is sufficient.
Ideally there would be an associated enlargement of public transport, light rail and intercity rail to take away those medium range journeys.
It's a whole integrated solution not one thing to solve all problems.
Most journeys that people really need their cars for are less than 50km, going to the shops and commuting.
Loosely translated means they filed the paperwork online and the whole thing was accepted automatically. So if anything, it was Amazon being Ebenezer making its lawyers work Xmas eve, the USPTO didn't have to do anything.
It's like high end Hi-Fi equipment you have to let the browser window burn in before you can get that richer and warmer internet experience. I always leave my browser to burn in overnight the first time I install it and find pages load quicker when I use oxygen free unidirectional tubes.
To be fair, the Millennium Bridge was badly designed from the outset and they didn't do their homework on resonance effects before building it.
The problem with all these services and all discussions about patents on slashdot is that finding prior art is not as easy as it looks. Amongst other things it has to be published, it has to be published at the right time and here is the bit where most prior art falls down it has to be enabling.
To be enabling, the prior art has to teach the same feature/ method/ process/ or whatever as stated in the claims and in light of the description. It is no good looking at the title and making assumptions about how the application does it and then saying you did it years ago.
So while documenting how Linux does stuff is useful, it does not guarantee anything.
He'll probably enjoy the box. It'll make a nice fort or maybe a car.
Exactly, Bilski doesn't suddenly invalidate thousands of previously granted patents. Any patent already examined and granted can still at this point be assumed to be valid until tested either in a court of law or by re-examination.
What may happen (though I doubt it) is that when renewal fees come due, Microsoft (or whoever) might think twice about paying them all automatically.
Why would you want to opt out of the NHS? Remember the NHS is there for all at any time. So if you are in a traffic accident and have to be rushed to A&E (the emergency room) you will not receive a bill from the ambulance company, you will not have nurses going through your wallet looking for an insurance card before they treat you, you will not get a bill from the hospital because your insurance company didn't "pre approve" your life saving treatment...