> From: Harald Tveit Alvestrand <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > ... > >> (And yes, this would be a case of "the Good Guys file a bull-manure > >> patent to pre-empt the Evil Guys from filing a bull-manure patent" - but > >> until the Patent Office gets their act together we're stuck with borked > >> software patents that are invalid due to prior art, etc....) > > > > In theory that could happen. It may have happened in practice with > > the Ethernet patent. But what's the point? ...
> the only advantage I could see is that the only prior-arts database the > patent offices are REQUIRED to search is the database of old patents. The trouble with that common suggestion is that it assumes the word "search" makes sense in this context. It does not and cannot. Anyone who has read at least two patents realizes that they are certainly not intended to be written to do clearly describe an idea. Because of the way they are written, it is too much hope that people of reasonable intelligence and at least ordinary education and skill in the relevant arts can honestly "search" patents. If that notion made sense, new patents would be as popular reading as the "Scientific American." There would be trade publications that consisting largely of patents. You would consult US4558302 instead of the BSD code to figure out LZW. Second, what do the followin words from http://www.delphion.com/details?&pn=US06025810__ say about the intelligence and ordinary education of the responsible examiner: A method to transmit and receive electromagnetic waves which comprises generating opposing magnetic fields having a plane of maximum force running perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the magnetic field; generating a heat source along an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the magnetic field; generating an accelerator parallel to and in close proximity to the heat source, thereby creating an input and output port; and generating a communications signal into the input and output port, thereby sending the signal at a speed faster than light. Yes, I know the group velocity can exceed the speed of light. Do you think that is relevant? You used to be able to see that whole patent for free. As far as I could tell then, it and the companion patents made less sense than Eugene Terrell's IDs. Third, if you pay the least attention to business news, you frequently hear of court cases in wich one patent is found to be invalid because of other patents. If "patent searching" is makes sense, how did the Welch LZW patent get granted after the IBM patent? Vernon Schryver [EMAIL PROTECTED]
