In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, on 10/15/2005
at 03:56 PM, Ed Gould <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
>If memory serves me, they (IBM) try and patent a lot of stuff that
>really has not real technical value. Sounds like a numbers game to
>me.
Could you be thinking of defensive patents, where the intent is not to
collect royalties or to prevent others from using the "invention", but
rather to prevent others from patenting it and demand that IBM pay
them royalties. Given how bad the patent office is about recognizing
prior art, it makes sense to patent trivial things with huge
disclaimers of prior art solely to get things into their data base.
--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT
ISO position; see <http://patriot.net/~shmuel/resume/brief.html>
We don't care. We don't have to care, we're Congress.
(S877: The Shut up and Eat Your spam act of 2003)
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