>From a previous (now hijacked) thread-- >> I wouldnt try to read patents. These are convoluted beasts, written by >> lawyers >> for lawyers. If you want to understand the technology, read the papers. Most >> of them are eithe freely available or for a small fee. If you have a good >> university nearby you can find them for sure in the physics library. > > Having read some of the patents I know that they can be quite > descriptive. There is a new tradition in patent-writing which you are > refering to, but that is rare with older patents.
As a patent attorney, I resemble that remark! My undergrad work was physics and computer science. Yes there are plenty of obfuscatory patents out there. However... My job when I write a patent application is to describe the problem and the solution in as clear and concise a manner as possible. U.S. patent applications have two broad requirements, enablement and best-mode. Enablement means someone of average skill in the art should be able to read the patent and go build one without undue experimentation. Best-mode means you're telling people the best way you know how to solve the problem at the time you filed the patent. That's what I want to do -- describe the problem, and then teach someone how to build the solution, to build one that works, keeping things crisp, clear, and concise. As to going and reading the papers... Some times, yes -- but when I worked with Labs (and with Rick) I'd get disclosures from some folks that would start out with a 12 page derivation of PLL stability criteria -- Danny, we don't need that in the patent! Yes, we can cite Gardner's book, but we don't have to teach people how PLLs work when we're trying to patent a particular aspect of PLL operation! Or the disclosures that start out "Recall the retarded solution to Maxwell's Equations as shown in..." That's not going to make it into the patent application! Clear and concise, that's what I do. I'll be happy to carry on further discussion off-list, and return to trying to figure out if I really want to pick up a used Datum Tymserve 2100... Bob K6RTM _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
