On 10/18/07, Bill McGonigle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Oct 17, 2007, at 22:47, Greg Rundlett wrote: > > Due to the patent system, the world is limited to basically two large > > consumer products companies that sell coffee. Why? because canisters > > come in round or square shapes (triangular being rather impractical -- > > although maybe there is an idea I should patent). Those shapes are > > patented and so nobody else can package coffee in a canister without > > violating a patent. Proctor and Gamble (or Procter & Gamble depending > > on how they want to hide similar patents) has the patent on round [1] > > (think Folgers coffee.), and Kraft has the patent on square (think > > Maxwell House coffee). Why does society need to increase the cost of > > innovation and discovery so that there can be monopolies on the shape > > of a coffee canister? Actually, they own the design of the container > > for any purpose -- not just coffee. This is just a simple example; > > you could get a lot more serious on the topic. > > [1] http://www.google.com/patents?id=N3QOAAAAEBAJ&dq=patent:D480312 > Is this the patent you meant to link to? Because: > * it's from 2003, > * it's for a round plastic container with a molded-in handle > * I'm unaware of any coffee companies that have gone out of business > since 2003 because of it > * I buy coffee from other companies that use round metal containers > (aka coffee cans) > * there's a century or more of prior art on 'food in cans' > * the minced garlic I buy comes in a square plastic container with > molded-in handle > Either I'm misunderstanding or your example is completely invalid. :)
I think people are missing the point. The company that owns that patent can do whatever they like as far as suing whomever they choose. The patent is valid until it is declared by the patent office to NOT be valid. Regardless of how inane or idiotic it IS for someone to have a patent, as long as they have it, and the patent office says they do, people WILL get screwed. -- -- Thomas _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
