> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gill, Kathy
> Sent: Friday, February 05, 1999 8:08 PM
> How in the dickens could they get a patent on something they
> didn't develop??
My experience with the PTO (one and only one patent granted) is that
the external world has little influence on them. If an idea has not
been patented previously, they don't care if it was invented 5,000
years ago and has been in daily use by everybody in the world ever
since; they'll give you a patent on it.
One counterexample: my development of a spreadsheet program in 1968,
which was used to decide the suits between Software Arts and Visicalc
about which of them had invented it, was also used to throw out several
patent applications for it. (Not by me; I was too busy kicking myself
for not thinking of porting my "electric blackboard" from the IBM main-
frame to microprocessors when they were invented.)
Bob Munck
Mill Creek Systems LC
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