Hi Jed. You write: >That does not seem like a good idea. If someone can profit from the ideas >posted here, that would be a good thing. If the gadget succeeds >commercially, sooner or later someone will uncover the origin of the idea, >and the patent will be rescinded. That might even make the news, which >would be excellent publicity for this forum. So let us wait until whoever >it is makes his first hundred million TWD (Taiwan New Dollars). >Maybe we can extort some money out of the fellow, in exchange for >selectively erasing the archives.
With all due respect Jed, you really seem not to understand how the patent office works. The system REQUIRES that someone step up to the plate now and submit prior art to the examiners after publication of the application. That's the whole point of publishing an application, something which was not really the case prior to harmonization of the US and European systems. Not doing so, especially with foreknowledge on our part, would be considered tacit approval. Waiting for the patent to issue and then challenging it would be an exercise in frustration for all parties, and given the huge financial advantage had by the applicant if he's successful would surely result in failure. Waiting would be looked upon as "bad faith" by any judge, and our discussion here presented as proof of that. Separate from that; there's something uniquely evil and monstrous about sitting on this list and funneling posts into applications. Think about it. What this asshat is trying to do is create "submarine" patents to challenge us if ideas posted here pan out into products. Such a parasite deserves far worse than the shaming he'll receive here; this kind of thing makes my blood boil. K.
