Re: USPTO needs killing

2002-03-25 Thread Steve Furlong

"Major Variola (ret)" wrote:
> ...an association of
> tree-growers
> is suing the USPTO.

A year or two ago, in a different forum, someone asked, "What does it
take to become a PTO examiner?" I suggested five generations of
inbreeding. A patent atty and a couple of software guys then chimed in
with "That's not a joke!" horror stories.

-- 
Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere   Have GNU, Will Travel

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all
progress depends on the unreasonable man.  -- George Bernard Shaw




Re: USPTO needs killing

2002-03-25 Thread Greg Broiles

At 11:40 AM 3/23/2002 +0100, you wrote:
>Patent office does better than BXA:
>
>http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24557.html
>
>Peter Avritch, president of PC Dynamics, told us he was surprised to be
>approached this week about what he considered was an "absurd" claim,
>based on a patent filed in 1998 - long after the widespread use of
>electronic encryption technology.
>
>"This is a very broad patent, which covers almost everything that saves
>encrypted files to disc. It could cover everything from secure laptops
>to electronic encryption," he said.

Avritch's claims about the scope of the patent and the lack of prior art 
are both disproven by the text of the patent itself, linked to from the 
Register article.

Software patents are harmful, but let's not lose track of simple facts in 
our sympathy for someone who got blindsided by a patent.


--
Greg Broiles -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- PGP 0x26E4488c or 0x94245961




re: USPTO needs killing

2002-03-25 Thread Major Variola (ret)

The current _Tech Review_ has an article about Tropicana (a div. of
PepsiCo)
patenting a recipe for mixing OJ from earlier-ripening fruits.  The
patent office
is not supposed to grant patents for *recipes*, and an association of
tree-growers
is suing the USPTO.