A useful source for you might be to find a backup tape from before the intellectual property case came to light. It would be hard for the other party to argue that you would go back and change the dates on backup volumes from before you knew there was an issue. Having multiple backup tapes showing that the last changed dates on the files had been consistent and unchanging can be used to establish that those dates are credible evidence. You should consult with your counsel about how to establish the proper chain of custody of the evidence before you touch any tapes.
Our evidence of prior art helped to have the patent thrown out, which is why the world doesn't have to pay a certain individual royalties every time a web server does a backend search of a database. We were able to show that someone at SLAC did it first and freely published the technique.
Hope this helps you. -Chuck Boeheim, SLAC On Apr 19, 2008, at 8:31 AM, Finke, Jon E wrote:
I will be giving a deposition involving some intellectual property issues in the near future, and some of my work is being considered as prior art. One of the ways we are determining “when” I wrote things will be based on the last changed dates of the files. Our AFS cell dates back to the early 90s (which is when I got my AFS admin certification.)
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