my.mp3 was a great idea, and it should have survived in its earlier form
now it's just not the same to pay for everything, or to have most albums locked out
and it can't be grouped together with other p2p services like napster, kazaa, etc, because it wasn't really a useful tool for piracy
I remember a report that documented many of the security features that really helped to prevent piracy in the my.mp3 system
we know you aren't necessarily in the mp3 business currently, but do you have any plans or ideas to build a system like the old my.mp3?
I am a registered US Patent Agent...#51,292 if you wanna look it up. You can use a patent agent instead of an attorney. Attorneys went to law school, but probably only took one or two IP classes. Patent Agents and Attorneys take the same registration exam from the USPTO. An agent will likely cost less. However, an agent cannot secure you trademarks, or litigate (ie sue someone for infringing) for you, since they are not lawyers.
Suggestions to check out "Patent It Yourself" are right on. I use this book all the time, and it gets better each version. Also, uspto.gov is a fairly well designed site with a ton of useful content, as you have probably seen already.
Just like all other legal activities, there are specifc rules to follow. Getting a lawyer helps you make sure that yuo follow all the rules. However, all of the rules are available...though not necessarily understandable. Again, many of them are explained in "Patent It Yourself."
The purpose of getting a lawyer is to get you the best patent possible (gee, no shit). That means broad coverage...probably broader than you indented when you made your invention. The lawyer will know how to anticipate possible obstacles to getting your broad patent. This is what you pay for...the broadest protection possible.
Anyway, anyone can file their own patent application. Believe it or not, it is the USPTO's job to help you get a patent. Once you file your application, you are allowed to ask the Examiner what it will take to get your patent granted. However, this will not have the broadest claims possible, but you will have a patent protecting what you describe in the specification.
Free advice: There are a few types of claims to describe your invention. Method of use, apparatus, and product. You invent a cup with a handle. You also have developed the machine that makes the cup and attaches the handle (apparatus). Your cup (product) has a specific purpose (method of use). You want to write your specification to describe all of these. In IP-Speak, this is called supporting your claims. This is vital, and most patent writers start by writing claims, then supporting them in the specification, rather than writing a specification first, followed by the claims.
More free advice: Provided you haven't publically disclosed your invention (published anything about it, offered it for sale, etc...), if your first application gets completely rejected, you can file another one. Furthermore, if your first application isn't exactly what you want, you can make improvements to your invention, add to your first application, and file a second application while the first is still pending. This is called a CIP (continuation-in-part) and everyone uses them. The day after you file your first application will be the day you discover a better way to do it! The downside of course is someone else might be right behind you with the same invention.
This is part of the patent tradeoff...the longer you keep it secret the more options you have, but the more likely someone else will discover the same invention.
In all seriousness, I'd be glad to answer more questions, general or specific. Take my./ ID and add on immunicon.com to send an email.
Ferrofluid is fun stuff, and has all kinds of uses as others have outlined...including mechanical parts, seals, and rocket fuel.
My employer also uses ferrofluids for cell separations for diagnostic purposes.
Currently, we're developing an early stage cancer diagnostic system with the ferrofluid-based technology.
1. A change-detection web server comprising:
a network connection for transmitting and receiving packets from a remote client and a remote document server;
a responder, coupled to the network connection, for communicating with the remote client, the responder registering a
document for change detection by receiving from the remote client a uniform-resource-locator (URL) identifying the document, the responder fetching the document from the remote document server and generating an original checksum for a checked portion of the document, the checked portion being less than the entire document;
archival storage means, coupled to the responder, for receiving the URL and the original checksum from the responder when
the document is registered by the remote client, the archival storage means for storing a plurality of records each containing a
URL and a checksum for a registered document;
a periodic fetcher, coupled to the archival storage means and the network connection, for periodically re-fetching the
document from the remote document server by transmitting the URL from the archival storage means to the networkconnection, the periodic fetcher receiving a fresh copy of the document from the remote document server,
a checksum generator, coupled to receive the fresh copy of the document from the periodic fetcher, for generating a fresh
checksum of a portion of the fresh copy of the document and comparing the fresh checksum to the original checksum, the
checksum generator signaling a detected change to the remote client when the fresh checksum does not match the original checksum,
whereby a change in the document is detected by comparing a checksum for the checked portion of the document, wherein
changes in portions of the document outside the checked portion are not signaled to the remote client.
If you have real life, documented examples of this being used before they filed, which looks like 18 Feb. 99, until you read the chain of continuity, where they claim priority from an earlier application filed 14 Jan. 97 (now patent #5898836), you can file a petition for re-examination or create an interference.
If as many of you say, you've been doing this for years, or it's been obvious to do each step, you can easily defeat this patent.
The PTO needs to allow third parties to aid the vetting process by challenging potential patents before they're granted.
As was pointed out in the article, new legislation now makes all US applications published after 18 months. This will have the examiner's name, as well as class and subclass on it. Of course the only exception is if you promise on your mother's life that you won't be filing for patent in a foreign country, then they won't publish your application. And if you go back on your word, your application gets abandoned and you start over with a new priority date.
If you want to help your friendly neighborhood examiner do his/her job properly, send in the prior art. Still, there are tons of ways patents get invalidated once they leave the examiner's office.
Patents are really a form of open-source in the business world. Companies give away the details about how they do stuff. You can take that and improve on it. Depending on how their invention is protected, you may not be able to sell your improvements, but then you don't sell your open-source software improvements either.
This is similar to the "logical" problem with evolution in general. You hafta make a change in order to get better. But if you make a change it won't be compatable with what's current.
It's widely held that evolution happens in the natural world, errr naturally. So now we just need to reproduce that in the gui world.
As I learned in college, there's gotta be a better way to do this.
In a place where you sorta come to expect good explanations and discussions of technological issues, its sure is being screwed up badly. They have a rough draft of a human's genomic sequence. They have not mapped the human genome. We aren't curing cancer. We aren't perfecting babies. We aren't creating life. We're so far away from doing any of those that your kids won't even be able to talk about it intellegently, let alone see it in your lifetime. Would you bet the farm on your first draft code for a project whose goals you poorly understand in the first place? Go re-take a highschool bio class. Learn about the words promoter, operon, intron, regulation of expression. Are there still ethical questions about genomic research? Yes, of course. Will they be debated until, and after, we can pull off any of the above? Yes, of course. Would it help a whole lot if we all understood wtf was actually happening? Wow, what a concept!
Using a cool move like the distribution for Terminus under win, mac, and linux in the same box, you get twice the effect... Linux publicity and cross-platform gaming publicity.
Slashdot Mirror
reading & spelling for little kids
math, history, science for school age kids
my.mp3 was a great idea, and it should have survived in its earlier form
now it's just not the same to pay for everything, or to have most albums locked out
and it can't be grouped together with other p2p services like napster, kazaa, etc, because it wasn't really a useful tool for piracy
I remember a report that documented many of the security features that really helped to prevent piracy in the my.mp3 system
we know you aren't necessarily in the mp3 business currently, but do you have any plans or ideas to build a system like the old my.mp3?
I am a registered US Patent Agent...#51,292 if you wanna look it up. You can use a patent agent instead of an attorney. Attorneys went to law school, but probably only took one or two IP classes. Patent Agents and Attorneys take the same registration exam from the USPTO. An agent will likely cost less. However, an agent cannot secure you trademarks, or litigate (ie sue someone for infringing) for you, since they are not lawyers.
Suggestions to check out "Patent It Yourself" are right on. I use this book all the time, and it gets better each version. Also, uspto.gov is a fairly well designed site with a ton of useful content, as you have probably seen already.
Just like all other legal activities, there are specifc rules to follow. Getting a lawyer helps you make sure that yuo follow all the rules. However, all of the rules are available...though not necessarily understandable. Again, many of them are explained in "Patent It Yourself."
The purpose of getting a lawyer is to get you the best patent possible (gee, no shit). That means broad coverage...probably broader than you indented when you made your invention. The lawyer will know how to anticipate possible obstacles to getting your broad patent. This is what you pay for...the broadest protection possible.
Anyway, anyone can file their own patent application. Believe it or not, it is the USPTO's job to help you get a patent. Once you file your application, you are allowed to ask the Examiner what it will take to get your patent granted. However, this will not have the broadest claims possible, but you will have a patent protecting what you describe in the specification.
Free advice: There are a few types of claims to describe your invention. Method of use, apparatus, and product. You invent a cup with a handle. You also have developed the machine that makes the cup and attaches the handle (apparatus). Your cup (product) has a specific purpose (method of use). You want to write your specification to describe all of these. In IP-Speak, this is called supporting your claims. This is vital, and most patent writers start by writing claims, then supporting them in the specification, rather than writing a specification first, followed by the claims.
More free advice: Provided you haven't publically disclosed your invention (published anything about it, offered it for sale, etc...), if your first application gets completely rejected, you can file another one. Furthermore, if your first application isn't exactly what you want, you can make improvements to your invention, add to your first application, and file a second application while the first is still pending. This is called a CIP (continuation-in-part) and everyone uses them. The day after you file your first application will be the day you discover a better way to do it! The downside of course is someone else might be right behind you with the same invention.
This is part of the patent tradeoff...the longer you keep it secret the more options you have, but the more likely someone else will discover the same invention.
In all seriousness, I'd be glad to answer more questions, general or specific. Take my ./ ID and add on immunicon.com to send an email.
Good luck!!
This site lets you find your representatives' fax numbers. Write a polite letter explaining why this is important and fax it to them.
It'll take ten minutes to write, five minutes to look up the three fax numbers, and five minutes to fax them.
You can read the actual text linked in the story for finding the important details to include in your letter.
Ferrofluid is fun stuff, and has all kinds of uses as others have outlined...including mechanical parts, seals, and rocket fuel.
My employer also uses ferrofluids for cell separations for diagnostic purposes.
Currently, we're developing an early stage cancer diagnostic system with the ferrofluid-based technology.
a network connection for transmitting and receiving packets from a remote client and a remote document server;
a responder, coupled to the network connection, for communicating with the remote client, the responder registering a document for change detection by receiving from the remote client a uniform-resource-locator (URL) identifying the document, the responder fetching the document from the remote document server and generating an original checksum for a checked portion of the document, the checked portion being less than the entire document;
archival storage means, coupled to the responder, for receiving the URL and the original checksum from the responder when the document is registered by the remote client, the archival storage means for storing a plurality of records each containing a URL and a checksum for a registered document;
a periodic fetcher, coupled to the archival storage means and the network connection, for periodically re-fetching the document from the remote document server by transmitting the URL from the archival storage means to the networkconnection, the periodic fetcher receiving a fresh copy of the document from the remote document server,
a checksum generator, coupled to receive the fresh copy of the document from the periodic fetcher, for generating a fresh checksum of a portion of the fresh copy of the document and comparing the fresh checksum to the original checksum, the checksum generator signaling a detected change to the remote client when the fresh checksum does not match the original checksum,
whereby a change in the document is detected by comparing a checksum for the checked portion of the document, wherein
changes in portions of the document outside the checked portion are not signaled to the remote client.
If you have real life, documented examples of this being used before they filed, which looks like 18 Feb. 99, until you read the chain of continuity, where they claim priority from an earlier application filed 14 Jan. 97 (now patent #5898836), you can file a petition for re-examination or create an interference.
If as many of you say, you've been doing this for years, or it's been obvious to do each step, you can easily defeat this patent.
Because 15 April is a Sunday, you have until 16 April to file.
Let the procrastination begin...tomorrow!
The PTO needs to allow third parties to aid the vetting process by challenging potential patents before they're granted.
As was pointed out in the article, new legislation now makes all US applications published after 18 months. This will have the examiner's name, as well as class and subclass on it. Of course the only exception is if you promise on your mother's life that you won't be filing for patent in a foreign country, then they won't publish your application. And if you go back on your word, your application gets abandoned and you start over with a new priority date.
If you want to help your friendly neighborhood examiner do his/her job properly, send in the prior art. Still, there are tons of ways patents get invalidated once they leave the examiner's office.
Patents are really a form of open-source in the business world. Companies give away the details about how they do stuff. You can take that and improve on it. Depending on how their invention is protected, you may not be able to sell your improvements, but then you don't sell your open-source software improvements either.
This is similar to the "logical" problem with evolution in general. You hafta make a change in order to get better. But if you make a change it won't be compatable with what's current.
It's widely held that evolution happens in the natural world, errr naturally. So now we just need to reproduce that in the gui world.
As I learned in college, there's gotta be a better way to do this.
In a place where you sorta come to expect good explanations and discussions of technological issues, its sure is being screwed up badly.
They have a rough draft of a human's genomic sequence.
They have not mapped the human genome. We aren't curing cancer. We aren't perfecting babies. We aren't creating life.
We're so far away from doing any of those that your kids won't even be able to talk about it intellegently, let alone see it in your lifetime.
Would you bet the farm on your first draft code for a project whose goals you poorly understand in the first place?
Go re-take a highschool bio class. Learn about the words promoter, operon, intron, regulation of expression.
Are there still ethical questions about genomic research? Yes, of course. Will they be debated until, and after, we can pull off any of the above? Yes, of course.
Would it help a whole lot if we all understood wtf was actually happening? Wow, what a concept!
Man I need an aspirin...
What's the biggest hurdle to hop over in getting funding for projects like OWL?
And how did you pull it off?
Since the robot is copying nature does it get a new term besides "innovative?"
Using a cool move like the distribution for Terminus under win, mac, and linux in the same box, you get twice the effect... Linux publicity and cross-platform gaming publicity.
Very bold. And a great game too.
The JEC tiles got rearranged quite often, including one time to spell out "DROP SQUAD".
http://www.lcnc.nl/dna6/
I went to DNA3 in Philly and it was very intense. Biochemists, Compuationalists, and Computer Scientists.