Pete -- I'm not an expert on the subject, so I would have replied by e-mail if [email protected] had been a valid e-mail address (hint).
It is my understanding that a shipment can be considered a "publication." In the United States (still, for a while) there is a one-year grace period allowed between publication and filing a patent application for anything revealed in the publication. However in most other countries, a patent application cannot be filed after publication in that country. Ed McCreight Adobe Systems Inc.
