richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) (09/19/87)
Speaking of silly patents...
Somebody (was it Vectrix) has patented XOR crosshair cursors. Now,
dont tell me people were using them them before this patent, I know
that.
They have been asking $10,000 for the "right" to use "their"
cursor.
A partial list of companies that have paid this "fee": IBM, Bell & Howell, etc.
It seems it would cost more to litigate this, than to just pay them off.
Me: "But that isn't fair"
Lawyer: "It doesn't have to be fair son, it has to be legal"
Me: " Right"
--
Richard J. Sexton
INTERNET: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM
UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, ihnp4, nosc}!crash!gryphon!richard
"It's too dark to put the keys in my ignition..."tim@ism780c.UUCP (Tim Smith) (09/21/87)
richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) writes:
< Somebody (was it Vectrix) has patented XOR crosshair cursors. Now,
< dont tell me people were using them them before this patent, I know
< that.
I was told when I was programming video games for the Mattel Intellivision
that Philips had a patent that covered the detection of on screen collisions
of video objects by AND gates.
This was claimed to be the reason that the game that was included with the
Intellivision did not use moving objects ( it was entirely done with
backgound graphics ). The idea was that if Philips decided to sue,
they would not be able to get an injunction banning the sales of the
Intellivision itself, only individual games that they know used that
technology.
--
Tim Smith, Knowledgian {sdcrdcf,uunet}!ism780c!tim
tim@ism780c.isc.com
"Oh I wish I were Matthew Wiener, That is who I truly want to be,
'Cause if I were Matthew Wiener, Tim Maroney would send flames to me"rickk@hpvcla.HP.COM (Rick Klaus) (09/24/87)
I am currently involved in a patent application, and I was told that in the US, you DO NOT have to file the patent claim before the invention is disclosed to the public. You have one year from first disclosure to apply for domestic patents. HOWEVER, foreign countries do not give such leeway. You must file for the patent before public disclosure. They do, however, allow one year to file after disclosure if you filed a US patent application BEFORE disclosing the invention. I have said invention, but I'm sure the law is the same for patenting of algorithms. I guess the US is just too lenient :-) Rick Klaus hplabs!hpvcla!rickk
richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) (09/29/87)
In article <3700001@hpvcla.HP.COM> rickk@hpvcla.HP.COM (Rick Klaus) writes: > > I am currently involved in a patent application, and I >was told that in the US, you DO NOT have to file the patent >claim before the invention is disclosed to the public. You >have one year from first disclosure to apply for domestic >patents. HOWEVER, foreign countries do not give such leeway. >You must file for the patent before public disclosure. They >do, however, allow one year to file after disclosure if you >filed a US patent application BEFORE disclosing the invention. > So thats what "Patent Pending" means :-) >I guess the US is just too lenient :-) Not for some things :-( >Rick Klaus -- Richard J. Sexton INTERNET: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, ihnp4, nosc}!crash!gryphon!richard "It's too dark to put the keys in my ignition..."