See this case which established trespass to chattels as a valid cause of action for unauthorized use of another party's computer resources:
CompuServe, Inc. v. Cyber Promotions, Inc., 962 F. Supp. 1015 (S.D. Oh. 1997)
This was the first case in which the antiquated tort of "trespass to chattels" was used as a cause of action in a case directed at spammers. This prompted subsequent legislative efforts like Washington State's Anti-Spam Bill.
Um, no. It's not cheap or easy to challenge a patent. Even if you qualify for small entity status under the Patent Office's rules the initial fee for filing a reexamination request for a patent ranges from $2520.00 to $8800.00 under the current fee schedule for FY 2002.
The main reason that most patents are never challenged is that the companies who have the money and the resources to challenge flimsy patents are too busy acquiring and protecting their own patents to attack someone else's patents (unless the infringement or invalidity is screaminly blatant).
The 20 year monopoly does NOT reward publication. It only confers upon the patent owner the right to EXCLUDE others from making, using, or selling the invention covered by the patent.
Secondly, in the United States publication of the patent applications has only recenly begun. Prior to the change in the laws this past November, information regarding any pending patent application in the Patent Office was unavailable to any parties other than the Examiner at the PTO or the individual or corporation which filed the application. The patents were "submarined" by extending the pendency of the applications by filing continuation and divisional applications which kept the information out of the public domain by preventing the patent from being granted and finally publishing in the US.
The patenting process in Europe and under the PCT system provides for publication 18 months after the first priority date, so there is a tremendous amount of information about what US companies are doing (or have done) that is available by searching the EPO and PCT websites at http://www.european-patent-office.org/ and http://www.wipo.org, respectively.
Depeche Mode's new album, Exciter, which to all appearances IS copy protected since it can't be copied directly with a burner or converted into MP3s...really, I've tried....
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See this case which established trespass to chattels as a valid cause of action for unauthorized use of another party's computer resources:
CompuServe, Inc. v. Cyber Promotions, Inc., 962 F. Supp. 1015 (S.D. Oh. 1997)
This was the first case in which the antiquated tort of "trespass to chattels" was used as a cause of action in a case directed at spammers. This prompted subsequent legislative efforts like Washington State's Anti-Spam Bill.
Um, no. It's not cheap or easy to challenge a patent. Even if you qualify for small entity status under the Patent Office's rules the initial fee for filing a reexamination request for a patent ranges from $2520.00 to $8800.00 under the current fee schedule for FY 2002.
The main reason that most patents are never challenged is that the companies who have the money and the resources to challenge flimsy patents are too busy acquiring and protecting their own patents to attack someone else's patents (unless the infringement or invalidity is screaminly blatant).
A quick patent primer:
The 20 year monopoly does NOT reward publication. It only confers upon the patent owner the right to EXCLUDE others from making, using, or selling the invention covered by the patent.
Secondly, in the United States publication of the patent applications has only recenly begun. Prior to the change in the laws this past November, information regarding any pending patent application in the Patent Office was unavailable to any parties other than the Examiner at the PTO or the individual or corporation which filed the application. The patents were "submarined" by extending the pendency of the applications by filing continuation and divisional applications which kept the information out of the public domain by preventing the patent from being granted and finally publishing in the US.
The patenting process in Europe and under the PCT system provides for publication 18 months after the first priority date, so there is a tremendous amount of information about what US companies are doing (or have done) that is available by searching the EPO and PCT websites at http://www.european-patent-office.org/ and http://www.wipo.org, respectively.
Depeche Mode's new album, Exciter, which to all appearances IS copy protected since it can't be copied directly with a burner or converted into MP3s...really, I've tried....