1. Cost of patenting based on the wealth of the patentee. Almost all USPTO fees are different for SME (small-medium sized) and large entities.
2. Patent to be supported by product within a period of 3 years. This would be hard for the "small garage inventor" would it not? Depending on the market for which there may be a need, an inventor could be sitting on a patent for 17 years before a A-Large-company realizes it is something they need (in certain cases this is regardless of whether the inventor promotes it or not). So this may actually end up hurting the inventor.
3. The cost of patent to be borne across the years. One must pay maintaince fees 3.5, 7.5 and 12.5 years after issuance to keep the patent right in effect so I am not sure what you mean by "the cost being borne across the years"?
I see your point, but you have to consider this as well, someone coming to Wabbachucha from the mainland, who has measles... there goes (possibly) the entire island if no one bothered to get vaccinated. We've seen this happen before in the Caribbean, the Arawak and Caribs couldn't handle the virii and germs that came from Europe.
What the Wabbachucha-ians want to do is get the ones who run things involved, to see the danger and to get someone to bring over the vaccine.
My point - Mac users should be aware. Those of us who have migrated from platforms that are prone to these things should make sure our friends and family that we have convinced to switch maintain the habit of not opening suspicious emails, nado.
So we get a choice between someone who can walk in and steal/murder/maim you OR having the entire building collapse on you because they cut corners when they built it. . . Hmmm sounds positively divine!
Then again with most security systems a really determined perp will just try to see who's home and convince them they are the NHK man or something so they can get in *shrug*.
>> 1. The patent examiner has extremely little time (True dat)
>> 2. Patent examiners have totally insufficient background... I don't think you can overlook experience and knowledge gained while examining though. Given the amount of research papers and prior art patents that examiners have to absorb, I would think a hardworking, smart examiner with 10 or maybe even 5 years experience would be able to easily separate the wheat from the chaff. (Or ask the right questions during prosecution to find out such)
>>3. The standard for what is an invention is something non-obvious to someone with "ordinary skill in the art". Instead of a jogger, I would say that we ask a coach to tell us how good/fast the sprinter is. I don't think there is anything wrong with looking at it like that because inventors are inventors *because* when they share their idea (skilled) people will say "oh gee, you're right! I never thought of it that way!". Who better to identify what in invention is that someone who knows pretty well what's going on today?
>>4. Given the very little time..., they basically perform keyword search...[to] find some other sentences with about the same words. In some cases yes, I would say this is the procedure they teach to the Young Ones coz it's easy and takes relatively little time. But there are also times when an examiner can find a combination of 2 or 3 references that describes your current concept.
>>5. But despite the patent office's initial rejection of almost everything, if you spend more money, which resets the examiner's clock and lets them spend more hours on you. There is a count system and there are people who know how to manipulate it. It is as unfortunate as it is true....
>>And its not going to change, because the patent office is a profit center for the government. Yep. So how do we get The People to lasso Congress into giving up this cash cow?
[No, I am not an examiner, ianal (Thank God) and i am not a patent agent. I have been working in the field - invalidity searches and what not - for the past 2.5 yrs. (Not to parent) but it pains me to see how many really smart techies have sooo many misconceptions about patents and IP T_T ]
It's possible they figured that the change they would rake in is small compared to the franchises they could license (toys, spinoffs on Nickolodean, etc) as well as comic book sales they could generate... remember there are kids coming up, it may seem stupid to us now, but may spark some fascination in a 7 yr old somewhere else to start drawing and/or reading comics.
The Courts will also rule in willful infringement based on what you should have known at the time the alledged infringement took place. [Sorry the list of cases have slipped my mind]
The patent claims the benefits of a provisional application filed in 1996. If you feel like checking it out, you'd have to find pre-1996 data.
At the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) and type in the pat number 6,460,020. You'll notice this application wasn't exactly sailing through the door. A notice of allowance (grant) was sent and withdrawn, after which the examiner decided to reject the application. The examiners work hard with what they have access to, I know it's easy but we can't just be blaming them all the time. *cough* USPTO Fees are essentially free money for the government *cough*
I'm sure Dell's attorneys will check the details of the file wrapper to determine if and how the claims were narrowed or something else invalidated the patent. Saying that they have a rock solid case is something any lawyer much less a patent attorney (ahem CEO) would say.
The patent just seems like the result of a successful negotiation to me. Whether or not Dell et. al will bow to the pressure, well...
I agree there. Maybe they are pissed they can't afford it or... something. For (*older*) people that still have some dexterity and endurance, the Segway is probably a great way to get around quickly and hassle free but like others said above it would be a mistake (the way it is designed now) to market it for persons with limited mobility, etc.
To tell the truth I have been thinking of this idea myself. MacPVR on a G4 or some such thing. I was wondering if Myth would work or if I would have to hack something together. As you can tell I haven't had time to sit down and do the specs yet but if you want, I can keep you updated with what I find. Do you have any particular suggestions?
people in the Caribbean (UFWI?). Then we can sue MS and their suffocatingly inaccurate MS Encarta trash... uh encyclopedia that has everyone thinking 90% of us speak Creole.
Creole = French creole. No they don't speak it in Jamaica and a bunch of other countries.
It's a non-story because it needs action, fast. It needs action because it is very broadly written, but it's supporters (who with the blessing of BSA et al) do not. (The evidence? They think that the iPod would not be harmed by such a bill).
We cannot risk something this ridiculous to even have the opportunity at being fast tracked. Why?
1. A post like this, could have the author thrown in jail if the INDUCE Act becomes law.
2. For more titulating (sp?) examples, see Hatches List
I guess they are hoping we are asleep. I hope to God that we are not.
It has nothing to do with Walmart licensing though, they are going after RFID hardware manufacturers. Even if they bought Intermec products there is nothing they could do except campaign and prey RFID hardware prices don't go to the roof
This is not a case of using "submarine patent strategy". Submarining requires that the patentee drag out the process over several years by filing continuation after continuation. Then allowing the submarine to surface just before attempting litigation. Although the parent maybe published, it is hard for other inventors to know what is patented because new claims can be introduced in the children (which are unpublished) that automatically claim the priority of the parent patent.
Thus this is not a case of submarining because: 1) All continuations filed have been abandoned or published (granted) couple years ago. 2) All patents involved have been granted within the last 6 or so years. No way to hide any claims.
The patents invoved are listed in this RFID journal article. http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/artic leview/979/1/1/
And if you don't believe me you can always look up the status data here: http://pair.uspto.gov/cgi-bin/final/home.pl
My initial instincts says something is fishy, especially since EPC global members agree to certain terms on entering the group (offering reasonable licenses or technology royalty free to promote RFID.) Unfortunately, if you read both articles, you will see this has the potential to screw with the standards (especially UHF Gen 2) that EPC Global and its members have been working hard to come out with.
Whats even fishier is that Intermec has representatives on the EPC Global HAG. Hmm why does this sound familiar?
When people get their etiquette together, I'll welcome this . . . but I'm not looking forward to being abused on the train/bus in the restaurant with information about who fired who, and which exec is visiting his mistress every night. And it's not like the ones of us that are guilty are gonna check into an etiquette clinic.
Been there done that... take a look at Farscape. Actually other than Bab5 ST could learn something from that show. The crew was not squeaky clean and without their own issues. They had their distinct personalities good and bad and stuck to them. It made it realistic, interesting and made you think because it was human sci-fi, not ineffective moral SPF10. (Which some of ST is . ..)
Oh and let's not go into the villian, the bad guy that you despise beyond measure but you kinda like. The type of person the hero might have been (or is) under certain circumstances.
Destroy enemies, only 15 years later enlist their help to for the *spammers* axis of evil! If that isn't a miracle of capitalism I dunno what is. Too bad Iraq and Afgahnistan have to wait that long for their slice of the pie -_-
Palisade (and Iowa State University) actually have a patent on this, even though there have been firewalls and other programs (like Snort) which do the same thing, and predate the patent.
If this is really the case then anyone can request to the USPTO that the patent be re-examined and hopefully thrown out based on the fact that the technology was obvious.
Why aren't patents exposed to peer review, like academic articles are?
The USPTO has tried to make some serious changes geared towards cutting down on unreasonable examination times (see also section 1.705 of the MPEP). So besides the "qualified examiners" issue, the bigger issue is time. One would not want the system to fall apart due to backlog and overworked examiners, especially when you have patent factories like IBM et. al. that churn out 3000+ patents a year.
Personally, I don't believe that the qualifications of the examiners are questionable, but definately the environment they are required to work in is. People joke that they use google? Of course they would, if the engine they have to use is a piece of crap!
Since patents are kept secret from the time filed to the time issued, no one really knows if there is a filed patent or not.
Patent applications filed on or after November 2000 are published within 18 months of filing. See the USPTO notice
Of course there are exceptions but a part of proving infringement is proving your competitors knew about the contents of the patent application. IANAL but if you delay the publication and didn't notify your competitors that they are possibly infringing, the judge will not be smiling with you and you would have made some lawyer quite happy.
Even more normal. . . It's raining cats and dogs and this chica is on her bicycle perfectly balancing the unbrella and cellphone as she rides and types a message. That's what they need to have on the cover of National Geographic!
Unlimited burns + no expiration + multiple devices + multiple computers = Not worth the trouble.
However, thats at 99cents a song. Is it worth it when they want to raise the
tarriff to $2.75 or so??
I am not in favor of the rent scheme, and it's easy to say vote with your wallet. But it's hard to vote when you are getting reamed on all three sides @_@
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2. Patent to be supported by product within a period of 3 years. This would be hard for the "small garage inventor" would it not? Depending on the market for which there may be a need, an inventor could be sitting on a patent for 17 years before a A-Large-company realizes it is something they need (in certain cases this is regardless of whether the inventor promotes it or not). So this may actually end up hurting the inventor. 3. The cost of patent to be borne across the years. One must pay maintaince fees 3.5, 7.5 and 12.5 years after issuance to keep the patent right in effect so I am not sure what you mean by "the cost being borne across the years"?
I see your point, but you have to consider this as well, someone coming to Wabbachucha from the mainland, who has measles... there goes (possibly) the entire island if no one bothered to get vaccinated. We've seen this happen before in the Caribbean, the Arawak and Caribs couldn't handle the virii and germs that came from Europe.
What the Wabbachucha-ians want to do is get the ones who run things involved, to see the danger and to get someone to bring over the vaccine.
My point - Mac users should be aware. Those of us who have migrated from platforms that are prone to these things should make sure our friends and family that we have convinced to switch maintain the habit of not opening suspicious emails, nado.
So we get a choice between someone who can walk in and steal/murder/maim you OR having the entire building collapse on you because they cut corners when they built it. . . Hmmm sounds positively divine!
Then again with most security systems a really determined perp will just try to see who's home and convince them they are the NHK man or something so they can get in *shrug*.
>> 1. The patent examiner has extremely little time
...
..., they basically perform keyword search ...[to] find some other sentences with about the same words.
(True dat)
>> 2. Patent examiners have totally insufficient background
I don't think you can overlook experience and knowledge gained while examining though. Given the amount of research papers and prior art patents that examiners have to absorb, I would think a hardworking, smart examiner with 10 or maybe even 5 years experience would be able to easily separate the wheat from the chaff. (Or ask the right questions during prosecution to find out such)
>>3. The standard for what is an invention is something non-obvious to someone with "ordinary skill in the art".
Instead of a jogger, I would say that we ask a coach to tell us how good/fast the sprinter is. I don't think there is anything wrong with looking at it like that because inventors are inventors *because* when they share their idea (skilled) people will say "oh gee, you're right! I never thought of it that way!". Who better to identify what in invention is that someone who knows pretty well what's going on today?
>>4. Given the very little time
In some cases yes, I would say this is the procedure they teach to the Young Ones coz it's easy and takes relatively little time. But there are also times when an examiner can find a combination of 2 or 3 references that describes your current concept.
>>5. But despite the patent office's initial rejection of almost everything, if you spend more money, which resets the examiner's clock and lets them spend more hours on you.
There is a count system and there are people who know how to manipulate it. It is as unfortunate as it is true....
>>And its not going to change, because the patent office is a profit center for the government.
Yep. So how do we get The People to lasso Congress into giving up this cash cow?
[No, I am not an examiner, ianal (Thank God) and i am not a patent agent. I have been working in the field - invalidity searches and what not - for the past 2.5 yrs. (Not to parent) but it pains me to see how many really smart techies have sooo many misconceptions about patents and IP T_T ]
Not to mention it would be a great way to test the sensitivity of the flash photography kit.
It's possible they figured that the change they would rake in is small compared to the franchises they could license (toys, spinoffs on Nickolodean, etc) as well as comic book sales they could generate... remember there are kids coming up, it may seem stupid to us now, but may spark some fascination in a 7 yr old somewhere else to start drawing and/or reading comics.
The Courts will also rule in willful infringement based on what you should have known at the time the alledged infringement took place. [Sorry the list of cases have slipped my mind]
hari kari --> hakkiri (aka seppuku)?
The patent claims the benefits of a provisional application filed in 1996. If you feel like checking it out, you'd have to find pre-1996 data.
At the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) and type in the pat number 6,460,020. You'll notice this application wasn't exactly sailing through the door. A notice of allowance (grant) was sent and withdrawn, after which the examiner decided to reject the application. The examiners work hard with what they have access to, I know it's easy but we can't just be blaming them all the time. *cough* USPTO Fees are essentially free money for the government
*cough*
I'm sure Dell's attorneys will check the details of the file wrapper to determine if and how the claims were narrowed or something else invalidated the patent. Saying that they have a rock solid case is something any lawyer much less a patent attorney (ahem CEO) would say. The patent just seems like the result of a successful negotiation to me. Whether or not Dell et. al will bow to the pressure, well...
I agree there. Maybe they are pissed they can't afford it or... something. For (*older*) people that still have some dexterity and endurance, the Segway is probably a great way to get around quickly and hassle free but like others said above it would be a mistake (the way it is designed now) to market it for persons with limited mobility, etc.
To tell the truth I have been thinking of this idea myself. MacPVR on a G4 or some such thing. I was wondering if Myth would work or if I would have to hack something together. As you can tell I haven't had time to sit down and do the specs yet but if you want, I can keep you updated with what I find. Do you have any particular suggestions?
people in the Caribbean (UFWI?). Then we can sue MS and their suffocatingly inaccurate MS Encarta trash... uh encyclopedia that has everyone thinking 90% of us speak Creole.
Creole = French creole. No they don't speak it in Jamaica and a bunch of other countries.
It's a non-story because it needs action, fast. It needs action because it is very broadly written, but it's supporters (who with the blessing of BSA et al) do not. (The evidence? They think that the iPod would not be harmed by such a bill).
We cannot risk something this ridiculous to even have the opportunity at being fast tracked. Why?
1. A post like this, could have the author thrown in jail if the INDUCE Act becomes law.
2. For more titulating (sp?) examples, see Hatches List
I guess they are hoping we are asleep. I hope to God that we are not.
It has nothing to do with Walmart licensing though, they are going after RFID hardware manufacturers. Even if they bought Intermec products there is nothing they could do except campaign and prey RFID hardware prices don't go to the roof
add to that Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil who invented the spread spectrum comm system.
This is not a case of using "submarine patent strategy". Submarining requires that the patentee drag out the process over several years by filing continuation after continuation. Then allowing the submarine to surface just before attempting litigation. Although the parent maybe published, it is hard for other inventors to know what is patented because new claims can be introduced in the children (which are unpublished) that automatically claim the priority of the parent patent.
c leview/979 /1/1/
l
Thus this is not a case of submarining because:
1) All continuations filed have been abandoned or published (granted) couple years ago.
2) All patents involved have been granted within the last 6 or so years. No way to hide any claims.
The patents invoved are listed in this RFID journal article.
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/arti
And if you don't believe me you can always look up the status data here:
http://pair.uspto.gov/cgi-bin/final/home.p
My initial instincts says something is fishy, especially since EPC global members agree to certain terms on entering the group (offering reasonable licenses or technology royalty free to promote RFID.) Unfortunately, if you read both articles, you will see this has the potential to screw with the standards (especially UHF Gen 2) that EPC Global and its members have been working hard to come out with.
Whats even fishier is that Intermec has representatives on the EPC Global HAG. Hmm why does this sound familiar?
When people get their etiquette together, I'll welcome this . . . but I'm not looking forward to being abused on the train/bus in the restaurant with information about who fired who, and which exec is visiting his mistress every night. And it's not like the ones of us that are guilty are gonna check into an etiquette clinic.
Been there done that... take a look at Farscape. Actually other than Bab5 ST could learn something from that show. The crew was not squeaky clean and without their own issues. They had their distinct personalities good and bad and stuck to them. It made it realistic, interesting and made you think because it was human sci-fi, not ineffective moral SPF10. (Which some of ST is . . .)
Oh and let's not go into the villian, the bad guy that you despise beyond measure but you kinda like. The type of person the hero might have been (or is) under certain circumstances.
Destroy enemies, only 15 years later enlist their help to for the *spammers* axis of evil! If that isn't a miracle of capitalism I dunno what is. Too bad Iraq and Afgahnistan have to wait that long for their slice of the pie -_-
Palisade (and Iowa State University) actually have a patent on this, even though there have been firewalls and other programs (like Snort) which do the same thing, and predate the patent.
If this is really the case then anyone can request to the USPTO that the patent be re-examined and hopefully thrown out based on the fact that the technology was obvious.
Damn, I knew I shoulda had that surgery in the second year of college... then again the pouch would've prolly burst by now... hmmmm talk about SOL =\
Why aren't patents exposed to peer review, like academic articles are?
The USPTO has tried to make some serious changes geared towards cutting down on unreasonable examination times (see also section 1.705 of the MPEP). So besides the "qualified examiners" issue, the bigger issue is time. One would not want the system to fall apart due to backlog and overworked examiners, especially when you have patent factories like IBM et. al. that churn out 3000+ patents a year.
Personally, I don't believe that the qualifications of the examiners are questionable, but definately the environment they are required to work in is. People joke that they use google? Of course they would, if the engine they have to use is a piece of crap!
Since patents are kept secret from the time filed to the time issued, no one really knows if there is a filed patent or not.
Patent applications filed on or after November 2000 are published within 18 months of filing.
See the USPTO notice
Of course there are exceptions but a part of proving infringement is proving your competitors knew about the contents of the patent application. IANAL but if you delay the publication and didn't notify your competitors that they are possibly infringing, the judge will not be smiling with you and you would have made some lawyer quite happy.
Even more normal. . . It's raining cats and dogs and this chica is on her bicycle perfectly balancing the unbrella and cellphone as she rides and types a message. That's what they need to have on the cover of National Geographic!
Unlimited burns + no expiration + multiple devices + multiple computers = Not worth the trouble.
However, thats at 99cents a song. Is it worth it when they want to raise the tarriff to $2.75 or so?? I am not in favor of the rent scheme, and it's easy to say vote with your wallet. But it's hard to vote when you are getting reamed on all three sides @_@