Just a quick note based on all the patent research i've done: Any disclosure in a public forum, whether limited in distribution or not, is considered "public disclosure". As a matter of fact, telling anyone your idea (other than the people who are co-inventors) is considered "public disclosure". However, that does NOT preclude you from filing a patent - all it does is limit the amount of time you have to file a patent. Once public disclosure is made, you have 1 year to file an application with the US Patent office. After that, it's considered that you've given up any rights to patent.
However, in practical terms it's more difficult to prove original invention once disclosure is made unles you keep a detailed, dated notebook (in ink). On Dec 1, 2007 12:23 PM, Gabriel Ambuehl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Saturday 01 December 2007 08:34:08 GWMobile wrote: > > I don't think discussing this here would be considered an open > > disclosure. > > Talking on a finite list or limited membership with moderation and thus > > controlled membership is not necessarily open disclosure and not the > > same as a public printing therefore I think it would still be > > patentable. > > You are aware that most mailing lists are archived and indexed by Google, > aren't you? > > By every sane meaning of "public", this is public. > > _______________________________________________ > OpenMoko community mailing list > community@lists.openmoko.org > http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community > > _______________________________________________ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community